"Before we begin, I need to know exactly where you are. You mentioned that something strange happened during your awakening. Most awakened individuals develop the ability to perceive their own statistics through a status window. We can also find our traits or our ascension, etc. You can take a look at it just by thinking about it."
'I know, I've done it before, but nothing happened except for question marks and basic stats on the status window.'
"Close your eyes and focus on your core, try to feel the connection between you and him," said Elisabeth, as if she had suddenly become a yoga instructor.
Kaen hesitated for a moment.
"I think in the novel, only the protagonist can see his own stats, and the same goes for the other characters, so I don't have to stress about showing them by accident."
"Yes, I think I can do that,"says Kaen with a confident look on his face.
Elisabeth's smile extended. "Good. Then do it. Open your status window. Tell me what you see."
In his mind, he invoked the system.
'Status'
ow appeared instantly in front of his eyes, but something was wrong.
Instead of the usual organized lines in the statut window, we saw broken lines and a message that kept reappearing in red:
ERROR
ERROR
ERROR
Kaen's heart began to race.
'What's going on? Is it because of the three cores?'
"So?" Elisabeth asked. "What do you see?"
Kaen opened his eyes , watching her attentive expression.
No.
He couldn't talk to him about what had just happened, especially when he himself didn't understand what was going on.
'If she discovered my System was completely glitched, she might think something was fundamentally wrong with me.'
"I… I can see my status window," he lied partially. "It's blurry, but I can see it."
Elisabeth looked at him with suspicious and hesitant eyes, but also with a certain understanding.
Kaen shut his eyes again, focusing on the chaotic interface.
The errors continued to appear for a while until the status window stabilized.
══════ [Awakened System] ══════
ANOMALY DETECTED
RECALIBRATION IN PROGRESS…
AFFINITY SELECTION REQUIRED
Due to abnormal awakening and formation of multiple ether cores, the user must select base elemental affinities. This decision is PERMANENT and will influence all future aspects of your future ascension.
════ [Affinities] ════
SPACE
LIGHTNING
FIRE
WATER
DARKNESS
Time remaining: UNLIMITED
Note: This choice cannot be changed once made. Choose carefully.
════════════════════════
Kaen remained silent, analyzing all the options.
"Kaen?" Solvane asked, voice tinged with worry. "Are you ok?"
"Yes," he answered quickly. "I… think I'm sensing my affinity emerging."
"Affinities?"Elisabeth raised a brow." The affinities should have awakened when you awakened, but with your abnormal awakening, we can't be sure of anything. So what do you see on your window status?"
"hmmm it shows that I have an affinity for space and lightning."
Silence fell.
"Space and lightning," Elisabeth murmured with seriousness. "A primordial affinity and a rare one. Both at once…"
"Space…" She paused,surprised,with a sense of pride, "That is my main affinity. One of the rarest affinities in existence, and one of the most complex to master. Only a few possess it in all of history."
She looked at him with new intensity.
"You're really lucky, little brother. You don't know how hard that damn affinity is to master,' she continued with an almost predatory smile, 'it looks like I won't only have superficial things to teach you."
'Huh? Why do I have a very bad feeling about this?'
"What do you mean by 'I'm very lucky'?" asked Kaen hesitantly.
'You know how rare it is to come across just one awakened person with the element of space, and you have the greatest and best user of space right in front of you. What more could you ask for?' Elisabeth continued in a questioning tone, 'But are you absolutely sure that you have awakened these two elements specifically?'
'I'm absolutely sure,' she said with a determined look on her face.
'No matter what, I will survive.'
'If the world is going to collapse, then I will save it just for the chance to live a new life. That's... that's what my uncle would have wanted for me.'
Kaen then returned to reality and finally chose his affinities.
Space,Lightning.
The status window has finally stabilised.
and what had been hidden for so many years came to light
══════ [STATUS] ══════
[Name]: Kaen Von Celestain
[Age]: 17
[Rank]: Awakened
[Affinity]: Space, Lightning
[traits]: Nothingness
[Soul-Bound Weapon]: Nameless Sword
══════ [TITLES] ══════
Heir of Void
Sinner (Partially Unlocked)
══════ [STATS] ══════
Strength: F
Agility: F
Endurance: F
Intelligence: F
Mana Capacity: D-
Aura Capacity:D-
Ether Capacity:D-
Charm: NULL
Luck: None
══════ [Unclaimed Reward] ══════
???
Nameless Arts (cannot be claimed until you have reached the rank of initiate)
═════════════════
Kaen looked at his status window without understanding much of what was happening.
'huh? sinner, heir of void , nothingness, what is that?, what does it even mean?'
He put off the questions until later, when his sister would no longer be there. He kept his expression neutral.
Elisabeth studied him for a long moment, her ruby eyes searching his face for something: doubt, deception, fear.
She found none.
Or rather, he didn't let her find any.
'You're truly incredible, little brother. Try to show it, even just a little bit.' Elizabeth looked at Kaen with a mixture of pride, sadness and melancholy, but it lasted only a millisecond. She quickly returned to her usual fierce attitude, her sadistic smile proving it.
Kaen nodded and closed his eyes.
He could feel them now, two distinct presences into his being, like new senses he'd never possessed before.
He tried with lightning at first, because he found it easier.
Close your eyes and focus on what you want to do, then channel it.
Nothing happened.
He tried harder, imagining electricity coursing through his veins, raw, destructive power gathering in his palm
A tiny spark flickered at his fingertip.
So small it vanished almost instantly.
But it had been there.
"Good!" Elisabeth said encouragingly. "Again."
He tried again.
This time the spark lasted half a second, crackling weakly against his skin before fading.
"That's normal," Elisabeth said. "You just awakened. Your energy channels aren't developed yet. Your core is still fragile. This will take time and practice."
She paused, watching him carefully.
"Now try space."
Kaen focused on the vast, cold presence within him.
But how did one manipulate space itself?
What did it even look like? Feel like?
He reached out towards the edge of the coliseum, trying to... bring it closer, compress the distance between them, or something else.
Nothing.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
He tried again and again, but couldn't even get a clue about how this damn affinity worked.
Fifteen minutes later, sweat covered his tired face, and frustration was written all over his face.
He looked at Elisabeth, holding back his frustration, and asked her how to use his affinities: 'Big sister, how can I manipulate space?'
"That's because you're trying to run before you can walk," Elisabeth said sharply, though not unkindly. "Space is one of the most complex affinities in existence.
She crossed her arms.
And lightning requires great precision and control over energy. You are essentially trying to channel two highly volatile energies through your mana channels, even though your core and channels were only created three days ago.
She stepped closer
"For now, forget about affinities and focus on the basics. You can't move forward without the right tools, and even that applies to traits without proper training."
Solvane nodded in agreement: 'She's right, big brother. Even for me, it took weeks to start mastering my lines. The first time I tried to use it, it just exploded.'
"We start from the absolute beginning. I'll teach you to feel your mana and aura. How to circulate them through your body without damaging yourself. How to channel them into your vein with control and precision."
Elisabeth's smile carried the promise of pain.
"When you begin to master this, I will then teach you to master your elements."
Kaen sighed inwardly.
He has incredible power within him, titles that he himself did not understand, a trait called nothingness without any explanation, three cores of ether instead of just one, and yet even his sister, who is one of the strongest people in this world, failed to detect that he had three and thought he had only one core of ether within him.
The hours that followed were a lesson in humility that Kaen had not anticipated.
Elizabeth sat him down in the middle of the coliseum and sat down in front of him for the demonstrations.
"Mana and aura flow differently," Elisabeth continued in the same instructive tone Kaen had heard hours earlier. "Mana is an external energy that comes from the environment, the world, the air you breathe, the things you touch, etc. Mana is everywhere and in everything?"
The aura is internal energy, energy that comes from your existence, your will. It pushes your body beyond its mortal limits and can improve it beyond anything you can imagine.
"Now close your eyes, empty your mind of useless thoughts, just feel these volatile energies within you," said Elizabeth in a soothing tone.
He felt the energies deep within him. He knew that this was what he had seen during his trial.
But he had to concentrate because his hearts were not normal hearts made of aura or mana, but hearts of ether, and what's more, if he messed up, it would mean annihilation.
"Now that you feel them, just think about taking a drop of water and gently guiding it through your right arm. Don't rush, just guide it."
'But which energy? Mana or aura?'
He chose the white core's energy.
Then the drop completely disappeared.
"Again," Elisabeth said calmly.
He tried again.
"Again."
"Again."
"Again."
"Again."
He began to get fed up whenever he felt he was succeeding, but he never did.
Elisabeth didn't give him time to think.
'Again.'
After what seemed like an eternity of failure.
He finally managed to get a brown mana in his hand.
Although it disappeared after only a few seconds.
'That's good,' said Elisabeth in such a kind and innocent tone that it was strange. 'Now do the same thing with the aura.'
Kaen wanted to groan, but swallowed it down.
'A demon she is a demon'
After countless failures, he finally succeeded in achieving the aura.
'Excellent,' said Elizabeth, 'you are learning faster than I had anticipated.'
She paused, and Kaen heard the smile in her voice.
"Now comes the actually hard part."
Kaen's eyes snapped open. "That wasn't the hard part?"
Elisabeth's smile was almost cruel in its amusement.
"Not at all, that was the easy part, since you already have a bit of ether in you. You must learn to master the aura and mana at the same time, and as quickly as possible." Elizabeth continued, "So, you simply have to do the two previous exercises at the same time, and Solvane will help you. Don't worry."
'Solvane, can you show him how it's done, please?' asked Elizabeth.
'Hey, Solvane, can you do that?' asked Kaen stunned.
Solvane did not bother to answer him. She gave him a small smile of satisfaction and began the exercise.
She raised both hands in the air, and two arms of energy manifested in her hands.
Kaen did not wait for Elizabeth's approval and started immediately.
Two hours later, Kaen lay flat on the cold stone ground, completely and utterly spent.
Every single muscle in his body screamed in protest. His head felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it repeatedly. His breathing came in ragged, desperate gasps.
"Pathetic," Elisabeth commented, though clear amusement colored her voice.
"But I suppose it's a start."
That's enough for today. Go and get some rest, she said, opening a portal that took them to their own room.
In her own chambers, Elisabeth stood by the window, looking out over the dimensional space she'd created.
The purple flames still flickered in the colosseum far below.
"Space and lightning," she murmured to herself. "3 core of ether at awakening. A trait already manifested. And something else... something he's hiding."
Her reflection stared back at her from the dark glass.
"What are you, little brother? What did you become in that forest?"
'3 ether cores, and he manages to bring out mana and aura as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
Kaen thought he had hidden it well, but no one can fool Elisabeth's eye.
"Mother, Father, I am sorry I was unable to keep my promise, in return, I will make him strong enough to overcome all his trials." she murmured to herself, feeling sad and melancholic