4 Choices...
He thought deeply about the question he'd avoided all this time.
What do I want from this life? What's my goal?
In his old life, Alger never truly had a goal. He liked living alone. No one to depend on, no one to disappoint. A quiet job, a quiet home... nothing more.
But this world was different.
Here, he wasn't weighed down by a mundane routine. No noise from cars, no smog filling the sky. Just silence, books, and the stars above.
Alger remembered how, as a teenager, he wanted to explore. He never had the chance. Geography, the ocean, the cosmos—he dipped into everything, always curious, always wanting more. But that dream faded as he grew older and reality grew harsher.
Now... he had another chance.
A real one.
There are too many questions that need answering.... Why was I reincarnated? What is Unknown? damn it....
He wasn't stupid.
Exploring Unknown was suicide.
The Unknown wouldn't have remained unknown if it weren't dangerous. Those who dared to explore it most likely never returned—lost, forgotten, or simply dead.
Now I understand why they say curiosity killed the cat.
He shook his head.
Enough about cats. Time to choose.
All elements were equal, but each had its flavor.
Terra was balanced—solid offense, solid defense, practical for survival.
Aqua leaned toward defense and utility, adaptable but slow-paced.
Inferno was raw, overwhelming power. Brute force.
Tempest was wild, fluid, and unpredictable. Slightly weaker than Inferno, but far more versatile.
Alger didn't need brute force. He needed adaptability... versatility...
He smiled.
"Tempest it is."
I'll become a Tempest Awakened in no.....t-tim-t....
***
'My head hurts, damn it all, damn it....' the pain in his voice slowly echoed away....
***
Four years later :
Alger was now eight years old.
By now, he had hoped to bring his Tempest gate to the second tier. But he couldn't...
The library wasn't huge.... apart from the two books he picked out that day, all of the other books were meant for children, stories, art, and stuff that Alger didn't care about.
He wanted to know more about ascending to the second tier, becoming an Awakened. But apart from the few lines mentioned in the 'Basics of Elemental Energy' about the process of becoming an Awakened, he had nothing.
That is why he was still stuck at the first tier, Broken.
And today, while deep in meditation, legs crossed on the cold floor, eyes shut, everything was disrupted by a sudden, high-pitched voice.
"Alger! Finally found you!"
It was the devil....
Over the course of the last few years, Ivy had matured mentally; she didn't use the 'Alger hit me!' card and force him to play with her these days. It wasn't because she started to care for him, but because there were more younger kids in the orphanage now, and Ivy had a lot more fun playing with them as compared to Alger.
But she was still very annoying....
She sat down behind Alger, using his back as a support.
"Alger, I'm bored..." she said while yawning.
"I'm not going to play with you, Ivy.", he said in a calm tone while continuing to meditate.
"Please? Just once.... I'm your best friend, aren't I?"
Huh?! Best friend?! In which world?
"No! I don't want to, I'm busy. Play alone!"
"I'll kiss you if you play with me."
"Like I said, I don't wan─wait what? Huh? huh?" He stood up.
"Who taught you to say stuff like that?!"
Ivy put a finger on her cheek, pretending to be in deep thought.
"The headmaster told me to keep it a secret.... sorry."
Wow! Kids are really stupid, aren't they.
And Headmaster..... just what the hell are you teaching children...
After Alger rejected her, she left. But not for long. Ever since the day Ivy found Alger's spot, she has come to the library to meet him.
Not to read. Just to copy him.
She'd sit next to him, cross her legs, close her eyes—and last three minutes before getting bored and poking his face.
Every. Single. Day.
Alger learned to tolerate her... barely.
While Ivory was passing her time leisurely, Alger had been making progress on awakening his Broken gate. It was slow, very slow. Mostly because Alger's body hadn't even fully matured yet, and he wasn't even supposed to be able to sense his gate at this age.
But he knew one thing for certain. He would awaken that gate....
Unfortunately, awakening a gate wouldn't make him as strong as one might think.
Humans with Awakened gates were weak, only slightly stronger than normal humans. This was because Awakened humans could only slightly control their Element found in nature, purely for utility. An Inferno Awakened might be able to start a fire, a Tempest Awakened might be able to bring forth a gust of wind. Only little things like that.
So he had to learn how to wield a weapon. If he wanted to survive in the wild, he needed to learn how to wield a weapon and to prepare for going up to tiers...
And luckily, the headmaster was a swordsman—There was an old katana on the wall of his room. If Alger asked nicely when he was a little older, the headmaster might teach him the way of the sword.
After one has awakened their gates, the process of ascending to the next tiers of your gate is simple... at least in text.... but a lot harder in reality
All you have to do is..... die.
Well, at least come close to it. You have to push your body and mind to their absolute limits—only then does your Gate have even the slightest chance of ascending to the next tier.
It might sound simple, like asking someone to fight to the death. But it's not. Even the faintest thought—"He might pull his strike," or "I'm strong enough to survive this"—buried deep in your subconscious, is enough to ruin everything.
Those thoughts linger. You can't just erase them. That's why you need a real fight—one where death isn't an idea, but a certainty. Unless you are able to claw your way out. A fight where the only thing running through your mind is to survive.
But here is the catch.... the higher up the tiers you go, the stronger you become. And the stronger you become, the harder you are to kill. That is why it's almost impossible for people to reach the fifth tier unless they risk their lives like maniacs.
But for now, ascending to the fifth tier comes later, Alger has to first work on awakening his gate, slowly but surely. It could take him anywhere in between 3-5 years, so he had to be patient.
You can do it Al-Alg-ee-r...
***
'Damn it! Not again....
'If I knew dying was going to hurt this much, I wouldn't have died.'
***