'What are you talking about? How am I still alive then? When was I poisoned? Gizmo, explain in detail please,' Axel demanded, bemused by Gizmo's finding.
[Let me clarify: the poison is not mixed with the Host's blood or body, but a small dimensional pocket has been created just near the Host's nails. It is filled with a very lethal poison that the Host can extract and utilize at any point in time. Due to it being hidden, I had a tough time finding it, but I found a mention of it in my old functionalities, which were destroyed.]
[I had to administer the poison within you after a particular event. That's all that I could recover regarding the functionality. This is most likely the work of that Old Man.]
[He had tinkered a lot with my functionalities. As I told the Host earlier, I am the stolen property of the Starship Empire, and the Old Man must have been using me or versions of me for his own purposes or sinister plans.]
[But each version of the system is independent, thus the Host need not worry about any possible issues, as now I work at the complete discretion of the Host.]
Axel could breathe a sigh of relief after Gizmo's update. He vowed to have his revenge on this mysterious Old Man (even Gizmo was not aware of the Old Man's identity, most probably by design). 'Gizmo, how strong is this poison, and can I utilize it for my own purposes?' inquired Axel.
[Looking at the structure and lethality of the poison, it can kill most Elementalists, and only the strong ones might be immune to its effects. If I had to put it into numbers, then Elementalists below Level 6 would find the poison lethal.]
[Just now, I have transferred the control of the dimensional sac to the Host. Now, the Host has only to will it, and the poison can be extracted from his fingertips. Just a word of caution: the poison is quite peculiar and should be studied at length before being utilized. Also, it has to be administered directly inside the body.]
'Ok, just one more thing—stop calling me Host, and simply "Axel" would suffice.'
While Axel was busy in his own world, getting to know about the world from Gizmo, a nine-year-old girl was quietly looking at Axel from a distance, hiding near the door to Axel's room.
This nine-year-old girl was Anya, the only person in the Blair household who loved Axel and had vowed always to protect and look after him. The adults of the household had tried to dissuade Anya. They repeatedly told her that Axel was a waste and a cripple who might not be able to function normally throughout his life.
But to Anya, her little brother was the cutest thing in the world, and she wanted to be his older sister and protect him forever.
Axel was informed of Anya's presence at the door. He knew about the feelings of his family toward him and appreciated the love Anya had shown him over the years.
Anya entered the room and hugged Axel for about a minute. "How have you been, my brother? I know you can't understand me, but I really hope you will get all better and play with me."
"Bro, if you are scared that you might get hurt outside and this is the reason you don't want to get better, then let me tell you—you have nothing to worry about."
"I will protect you forever. You know, yesterday, Father had my affinities tested. And you should be proud that your sister has a great affinity for the fire element."
"The priest even told Father that I was a generational talent and could grow up to become even more powerful than our mother. You know how powerful she is, right?"
"So don't worry, Axel. Whatever fears you have, your older sister will take care of them for you. I just want you to be okay."
Axel was mesmerized by Anya's words. No one had ever cared for him to this extent. From Axel's perspective, the world had turned him into a cynic and a calculating bastard, but hearing those words jolted something inside of him.
A tear trickled down from Axel's left eye. Anya, seeing that, took it as a sign that her brother could understand her. She had repeatedly been told about the defects in her brother—how Axel was mentally and physically worse than an average kid and how she should avoid him, the "cripple" of the family.
But seeing that single teardrop reconfirmed Anya's belief that her brother understood her and that he needed protecting. This small exchange of heart between siblings had laid a strong foundation of trust and care between the duo, which would soon be known throughout the world.
Anya showered kisses on her little brother and then left after promising to come back soon. This encounter with Anya strengthened Axel's pledge to grow stronger.
'Gizmo, before we begin with my training, you need to tell me about those skills you were talking about earlier,' Axel inquired with determination in his heart.
[Skills to you might seem simple, but they are not.
Now, as you know, for you to be able to harness the power of the elements, you need to be able to manipulate the elemental energy of that element. Some of them are easy—for example, collecting a lot of fire elemental energy at one point, giving it a shape, not allowing it to disperse, and then throwing it in a trajectory. Now, this might seem simple, but even then, it is evident that the number of steps to follow is still there.]
[By the way, what I described was a simple fireball—the bread and butter for a fire Elementalist. Now imagine how hard the other spells are going to be. But what if you don't have to repeat this tedious order again and again? That's where the skills come in. Skills are nothing but a shortcut—you simply activate it, and voilà, the whole sequence gets activated automatically, and the spell gets executed.]
[Skills are extremely useful but very difficult to come by. It has something to do with your soul, and thus, it is a popular theory that during the ascension or levelling up of an Elementalist, there is a maximum chance of someone obtaining a skill due to a phenomenon known as Soul Resonance.]
[If you want, you can further read into it, as I have the records. But as of now, you should know that I did say you should at least try and obtain a skill in the next five years of your life. Keep in mind, it is going to be extremely difficult.]
[But don't lose hope even if you are not able to acquire a skill. The efforts that you will put here will help you in acquiring a skill in the future. So right now, your goal should be focusing on studying the elements and on the skill you want to acquire—like knowing what it would specifically do, how, and what its structure is going to be.]
'Looks like the next five years are going to be a pain,' Axel exclaimed.
'Gizmo, all this talk about elements, but you have yet to tell me about my affinity. Which are the elements for me?'