After absorbing Kyle's life energy, Erie felt a tingling sensation in his stomach. He didn't know what was happening to him; all he could do was stare at his hands.
The system notifications were bursting with messages. However, this wasn't the first time his system had overwhelmed him, and he was sure it wouldn't be the last.
The slight pause between notifications didn't end, and the last message made Erie smile.
"System update has been completed, version 1.2."
"Congratulations: the user has unlocked a new skill."
"Mystic."
Erie felt a surge of energy inside him all at once, and he was beginning to feel as strong as he ever had. He was now growing more potent than that top-tier human. But it was only on a physical level. If he were to fight someone skilled with an ability, the fight would still be challenging.
In his old village, he always got into fights regardless of each user's ability. Erie and Alex always fought other orphans, merchants, and higher authorities. He saw how others were bullied more than he was, while the targets on him faltered.
Since Erie and Alex fought side by side in the past, he has developed a good sense of fighting skills, but if Erie were to fight another skilled ability user, like Gene or Lilly, he would quickly lose.
What Erie needed was more skills he could use. Sun slash was a good skill, but it only had a distance of up to 3 meters. And it took away 5 points of his energy. With an added ability, he could obtain more skills that wouldn't take from his energy.
After the energy finished filling him, the system prompted him with another update.
"Update complete: 'Mystic: Mystic is an invasive enhanced skill; Mystic enhances users' fighting techniques, as well as abilities, and will no longer be the same."
"Update: Mystic sun slash."
"Abilities for the users have been limited."
Erie stared at the screen before him, rereading the skill repeatedly and then reading the notification.
"Abilities have been limited?" he repeated softly. "Mystic Sun Slash?"
Erie had no abilities anyway, and Erie didn't even know anyone with the same skills as him. He took his time learning because the library was filled with able-bodied books and CDs, but he still didn't know what the system meant by 'Limited.'
Before Erie could select the skills, Lilly finally interrupted him. She waited patiently long enough.
"What did you do?" Lilly asked, beginning to walk closer to Erie. Then she asked him questions, such as, "Why was your circle all of those colors?"
Erie closed the system notification to acknowledge Lilly. He walked closer to her as she walked to him. When he was closer to her, he turned his head to look back at Kyle, who was lying on the ground.
They both noticed the mark on his head glowing violet. The last mark created on the first kid he drained the energy from was orange; he couldn't figure out why the colors changed. He figured it was due to this mystic skill the system had granted him.
"I'm not sure myself," he said. "But I think it might just be a trait of mine."
Erie laughed nervously at the thought of the kid he drained energy from, but then he remembered, "Oh Crap, I forgot to look for the kid from the library after the fight!"
That wasn't his only concern, though. Memories of the fights after math began to flash in his head. "Didn't that teacher say there were cameras?" he looked nervously at Lilly and began to walk closer to Kyle.
"So, this means they will call me for an investigation?" Erie sighed and began pulling at his hair. Lilly watched Erie's emotions, and she didn't say a word to him; she let him talk, and when he was finally finished, she spoke up.
"You don't have to worry about them reporting you," she pointed at the mark on Kyle's head. "You see that mark. It's a temporary seal. They won't remember what you did." After telling Erie, she began to walk back toward the school.
"I'm still researching what it means, though I don't know everything about these marks yet. Just be careful, okay?" Before Lilly walked off, Erie shouted her name, and he began to follow behind her.
"Wait, Lilly!" he yelled.
"Do you know a kid named Jake? The guy with green eyes? And if you do. Do you know what happened to him?"
Lilly stopped walking for a while and turned to Erie. She saw Jake around school, and when he attacked a random person she didn't know. After thinking, she finally answered, "Yeah, I saw him attack some of these kids from the third-year level; why?"
Erie thought about what had happened earlier in the combat lessons. He heard people talking about him and wanted to see what had happened. Then he learned Lilly saw him attacking higher-level students. He tried to press more for answers.
"I overheard a few people calling him names and wanted to see why."
Lilly looked concerned after Erie mentioned this. For some reason, Erie started to care for Jake's well-being. He didn't say much, but it seemed like he was getting along well with Jake until the third year approached them in the hallway. A guy named Jason called Erie Trash and told Jake not to hang around them anymore. Since the encounter, Jake has been distant from Erie and has only been helping Gene train.
"You're not friends with him, are you?" Lilly finally asked. "If you are, that guy is creepy. I don't understand his ability." She walked over, placed a hand on Erie's shoulder, and looked him in the eyes. "That guy is dangerous, Erie; from what I saw, I don't think anyone except the fourth year can compete with him. Those guys are the elite who make it to the fourth year."
There was a big difference between students; each year, a technique was taught to them, giving them an advantage over the previous year's students. The fourth year knew all of the academy's methods, and they were forbidden to speak about these techniques to students of the lower levels.
The second-year students learned how to awaken an innate skill called the next level. The military didn't have a name for this yet, but it gave the user a temporary power boost unique to the individual.
Once users learn the technique, they move to the next level, as they can either enhance their ability or create a weapon from their energy reserves. The method varies from person to person.
The third years learn how to master the technique; they focus on combat and endless amounts of sparing, and tournaments are held within the cities to enhance actual fighting for further evolution.
They finally parted ways after Lilly and Erie finished speaking to each other. They decided to leave Kyle where he was because it was time to go back to their homes to make curfew.
Erie headed back to his room. He was tempted to check his system because he wasn't finished reading his notifications before Lilly interrupted him. he decided against it because he knew he needed to make curfew, or he would get in trouble with the school.
Erie made it back to his home but noticed that it was empty. He went to the backyard and saw Jake and Gene still training.
Gene threw a series of punches at Jake, each one leaving a trail of water that lingered in the air. As he stepped back, the flowing water surged forward, colliding and forming a sudden shield in front of him.
"Alright!" Gene said pantingly. "I think I'm getting used to the whole water thing, creating my body keeps doing."
Gene then stepped back and held out his hand. A small water ball formed in his hand and circled like a spinning vortex. And the water vortex vanished.
"I almost had it!" He jumped up and down, stomping the ground. Erie saw that Gene was frustrated. "Why can't I get it? This should be easy for me!"
Jake approached Gene and explained how the technique worked. Although Jake could not swim, he knew the methods of the skill, so he was able to help teach Gene the skill.
"Is this because you're a gold user, Jake? I mean, you seem like you know a lot."
Jake walked a few steps back from Gene and held out his palm. A silver wind formed in his hand and began to twirl in place. "It's not the ability; it's the skills learned with the ability. The ability is what you base your Energy to manifest, but it's up to the user to develop their skill according to the ability."
Erie thought about what Jake had said and wondered if Gene had an ability now. The last time he analyzed Gene, the system said he didn't have an ability, not that the system had upgraded to 1.2. He wanted to try his analytical skills on Gene, so he tried them on him.
"Analyzing."
"Name: Gene Gane."
"Race: Hybrid."
"Ability: Draconic water."
Gene learned a new ability, not just a water ability. "Draconic water?" Erie looked confused at the notification. "What the hell is a draconic water?"