"My skin is finally getting some colour, but I don't think it's gonna stop being pale". Xenon examined his face in the mirror. "And a few strands of my hair are turning light caramel at the sides, strange". He smirked. "But this face is such an improvement from my former one that I can't help but stare at myself in the mirror everytime".
Xenon had just taken his bath and was drying himself up when he picked up the mirror to examine his face. He had been doing this ever since he woke up here, monitoring the recovery of his skin, but it seemed he couldn't do anything about his pale complexion. He put on his clothes after the usual episode of fawning over himself and went out of the mansion.
He meditated all through yesterday and is very close to forming his Ousia, so he woke up very early this morning to continue. He sat down by his new favourite spot, the apple tree, and checked his progress.
_________________
NAME: XENON PRASEDYMUM
AGE: 14
LEVEL: 3 | EXP: 2/200
STATE: EXCITED
HP: 10/10
OUSIA: INCOMPLETE [91%]
ATTRIBUTES [>]
SYSTEM SKILL: SCAN
QUESTS [>]
MAIN QUEST: Form Ousia [91%]
DAILY QUEST:
▪︎Meditate for 1 hour
▪︎Drink 3 litres of water
_________________
He sat in a meditating pose, focused for a while with his eyes closed, then he felt the familiar volatile energy –spiritual energy– all around him. He stimulated his almost completed core with the àse within it and used it to draw in the waves of spiritual energy around him. The waves gathered at his core, slowly at first, then the rate increased gradually.
_________________
OUSIA: INCOMPLETE [93%]
_________________
_________________
... [94%]... [97%]... [99%]...[99.2%]... [99.6%]... [99.9%]...
_________________
_________________
OUSIA: FORMING...
_________________
All the spiritual energy in his immediate vicinity was being sucked in large amounts into his forming Ousia, his body glowed slightly as he was filled with energy.
The scattered colourless mist were now gathered together in a rough sphere, the pressure of the in flowing energy compressing them tightly together until it became a tiny translucent ball that throbbed continuously, letting out streams of colourless volatile energy which orbited the ball with each throb.
This continued until the transcluscent ball was completely shielded by the orbiting mass of volatile energy. The white dots that littered the black space was drawn in and absorbed by the transcluscent ball.
The ball stopped throbbing and let out a strong wave of force, which spread throughout the now black space and out of Xenon's body, pushing away the gathered spiritual energy and fairly disrupting the environment in the mansion.
The force dispersed and everything went back to normal. Xenon's Ousia(spiritual core) has been successfully formed. He collapsed into the grass from exhaustion.
°Ding
_________________
•The main quest "Form Ousia" has been completed
100 exp has been awarded
5 stat points has been awarded
A new tab has been unlocked
...
Status updated
_________________
Xenon hurriedly opened his status tab, he was overcome with excitement.
_________________
NAME: XENON PRASEDYMUM
AGE: 14
LEVEL: 3 | EXP: 102/200
STATE: VERY EXCITED
HP: 15/15
OUSIA [>]
ATTRIBUTES [<]
|Strength: 4| |Agility: 2| |Endurance: 12|
|Intelligence: 17| |Senses: 6|
[Fatigue: 73% | Vitality: 98%] Stat points: 5
SYSTEM SKILL: SCAN(Lvl 1)
QUESTS [<]
MAIN QUEST: Form Ousia (Completed)
DAILY QUESTS:
▪︎Meditate for 1 hour (23/60 mins)
▪︎Drink 3 litres of water
_________________
"Yes! At long last, this is amazing!". Xenon shouted in excitement.
The blurred tab, right beside the status tab now had the words "Abilities" written on it. There was a red dot at the edge of the abilities tab and Xenon wasted no time in opening it.
"Xenon! What are you doing?". Xenon looked up and for the first time since he woke up in this world, he was not so eager to see Elsa. He stood up and half ran to meet her.
'Why did she have to show up just when I was about to check out about my ability'.
He thought to himself as he went to meet her.
"Why do you look not so eager to see me?". Elsa asked when he got to her.
"Nothing, I'm just surprised you arrived so early, that's all".
"Was that you earlier? I felt a wave of energy hit me on my way here, I quickened my steps to reach here quickly, thinking something was wrong. So was that your Ousia forming?". Elsa spoke as they moved into the mansion.
"Yes, it was me. I successfully formed my Ousia and was trying to figure out my ability before you called out to me". Xenon replied.
"Congratulations!". Elsa shrieked and grabbed Xenon in a hug as she was overcome by happiness for her brother. "Now that you have successfully formed your Ousia, you should rest a bit and not be in a haste to find out what your ability is. It will appear naturally by itself overtime".
"Sure. I'll be careful not to overwork myself". Xenon tore himself away from her grasp and reassured her.
"Great. Go take a bath, you smell funny. There's things to say at breakfast".
"But I just took a bath, how come". Xenon was dumbfounded as he noticed the smell too.
"It's probably the effect of forming your ousia. When there's a large concentration of àse, weird things often happen." Elsa informed him as she turned away towards her room. "Don't skip breakfast".
"Ok. See ya". Xenon replied as he continued sniffing himself
— — —
Xenon wolfed down his breakfast as fast as he could. He wanted to finish eating quickly so he could check out his ability, he hadn't had time to check all day.
Immediately he got to his room earlier, Gael dragged him down to the horse shed to assist him in cleaning. He apparently told Qweri to attend to something else, that he will do it and then forced Xenon to help him.
"You're healed now, you should do some work to build your strength". He said.
Xenon slipped and feel into horse's dung a couple of times and had to take a very thorough bath after Gael released him. He spent so much time scrubbing himself clean that he finished just as breakfast was ready. He's very determined to at least get a glimpse of his ability before Elsa announced whatever news she had, hence the dangerous speed he ate at.
He finished his meal, drank some water and sighed in relief, both Elsa and Gael were still eating. 'Finally, I can check my ability'. He thought.
"Since Xenon is done with his meal, why don't you share what news you brought back from our grandfather, Elsa". Gael said.
"You bastard!". Xenon said under his breath as silently as he could.
Gael smirked as he knew Xenon just formed his ousia and was in a hurry to find out his ability.
"Yeah, sure". She started. "I told him about Xenon's recovery, he wasn't particularly happy or concerned, but curious. Anyway he said to bring you along to tomorrow's monthly gathering, probably wants to know how you did it..."
"But I never attend family gatherings, he always avoided my presence, why want to see me now?". Xenon asked.
'The memories I got clearly shows that my grandfather hates me, he disliked me so much that he didn't even let me know my cousins. He wanted to take Elsa away from me too, but thankfully she resisted. I'm very sure he has no good intentions towards me'. Xenon reasoned.
"I don't know the reason for his actions, but those are his orders. Also Qweri is retiring".
"Retiring? Why?". Both Xenon and Gael said at the same time.
"He's retiring, not leaving... yet. He is obviously old and wants to rest, but since he has nowhere to go to, he agreed to stay, but only as a guest until he finds somewhere suitable to move into. So we will have a new butler in two days time, after the family gathering". Elsa answered.
"He doesn't have to leave, he could stop working but still live here, no one's gonna trouble him. Did you let him know?". Gael asked
"Yes, I tried my best to make him stay, but he's insistent on leaving as soon as he finds a place. So... that's all I wanted to say, you can go do your things now". Elsa replied and continued eating.
Gael sighed and followed suit. Xenon excused himself and went to his room.
"Time to check you out". Xenon said excitedly as he entered his room. He opened the system and selected the ability tab
_________________
•First Ability Assigned
_________________
_________________
ABILITIES (1) [<]
__ 1 __
ABILITY: HYPERCELERITY [<]
As the name implies, this is the aptitude
to employ spiritual energy to accelerate
your overall speed.
LEVEL: 1
SKILLS (0) [<]
××××××××××
• System will not provide any skills, you must create them yourself to increase mastery and versatility over your ability.
ABILITY MASTERY: 0%
______
_________________
"Why did I expect some overly strong ability? I should have known that wouldn't happen. Well, I'm not surprised but a little bit disappointed, super speed is a cool ability too" Xenon fell into his bed. "And what is with this bullshit system trying to make my life as hard as possible, aren't you supposed to make it easier?"
"I guess trying it out will have to wait, I've got a stressful day ahead tomorrow, can't risk breaking a leg while testing my ability". He stood up, went to the desk adjacent his bed, situated by a window that looked out to the study in the distance, he grabbed a bottle, poured the contents into a silver goblet.
"When did that get there?". Xenon asked at an almost imperceptible barrier –which had been invisible to him until now– around the recursive island that housed the study. He brought the goblet to his lips and swallowed the cold water within.
_________________
•After due consideration and pity, 1 Skill, Blink,gifted
+2 Agility +1 Senses
•You gain the above reward again, everytime you discover/create a new skill.
_________________
"Hah!" Xenon scoffed. "Due consideration and pity my ass, I know you think I can't make one on my own."