Chapter 25: Chapter 24 – Second Wave

[Congratulations, you have now fully adapted into your new class!]

He hit the huge red button on the treadmill and waited until it slowed into a stop before finally stepping down, putting his hands on his knees he took deep even breaths as sweat poured down his face like a waterfall, three hours of constant exercise and he hadn’t recovered even 1 attribute point, it seems it would take far longer than he originally thought to be back at 100%, at least now he finally test his new runic powers.

 

He had noticed it a few minutes after he changed classes, his strings had gotten harder and harder to control until they naturally dissolved themselves, at which point he also couldn’t use any other skills or abilities that required mana, he had tried meditating but the only thing he managed to figure out was that his mana was changing, while once it had been just like a gas floating freely around his head now it was slowly condensing, becoming liquid, now the process had finally finished and his mana rested safely into a pool around his forehead.   

 

Picking up a bottle of water he drank half of it and poured the other half over his head before dragging his tired feet towards one of the private training rooms, laying down on the floor he tried to recover his breath for a good five minutes before pushing himself into a sitting position.

 

Circling his new mana he felt it answering slower to his commands, as if it was sluggish and harder to move, sending it through the mana channels responsible for his telekinesis he noticed it took longer to manifest his strings but they were stronger and more solid than ever making them harder to break by at least 25%.

 

Dismissing his string he saw it had spent the same amount of mana as before so he pulled a quarter from his pocket and started playing with it bouncing it between his fingers, he finally started to use his new mana paths.

 

He wasn’t very familiar with the new paths responsible for the <impact rune> and guiding this new mana through them was like pouring water from a cup through a straw, his control was great from all his training as a kid but it still took the better part of 10 minutes to pour enough mana and 1 out of each 6 mana points used spilled over into the other paths uselessly.

 

Finally he pinched the coin between his thumb and forefinger lifted it into eye level and used his other hand to draw the rune on top of it, it briefly glowed with a red light while he set the activation requirements, upon impact this time, the glow died down and he saw a small symbol drawn on it, his mana was drained for a little more than 600 points a hundred of which were wasted on the wrong channels but he had succeeded.

 

The waste was a worrying fact, he had trained his strings so much his control was perfect when creating or controlling them but his other skills and abilities were not nearly as developed, would he lose 15 to 20% mana every time he used them? Would it become even harder if he formed other paths? He just didn’t know.

 

Dismissing his worried for the moment he pulled his arm back and threw the coin at the wall, it hit with a flash of red light and a bang far louder than should be possible, the coin was nearly completely nailed to the wall cracking the area around it for 20 cm.

 

“Ha, impressive” he couldn’t hold back an exclamation from pleasant surprise at the sight, it seemed that 10 STR concentrated into such a small area and activated so suddenly had a fairly destructive effect not unlike a bomb, he wanted to experiment more but his mana was already nearly in the red.

 

While he waited for his power to recover he got into the lotus position and cleared his mind, concentrating into his remaining mana pool he decided it was time to finally start working in his <Runic Power> ability.

 

Controlling his mana perfectly he first tried to bash the mana path open, each hit sent a wave of pain into his brain and by the third one he had to give up, it was just too much to bear, changing his approach he formed a thin thread of mana and started spinning it as fast as his control allowed, it was far thinner than the necessary size for the path to work but for now it would have to do.

 

Using the spinning thread he drilled at the walls of his mana pool, it was far faster than before and caused a constant but less intense pain on his mind, gritting his teeth he continued to drill all the way through his head down his neck and into his hearth before the pain forced him to stop.

 

The new path formed was incredibly small but he could already feel the tickle of mana falling through it and mixing with his bloodstream, he didn’t feel anything different so he rested for half an hour before deciding to continue his work.

 

Once the path had been opened it became far easier to just enlarge it, it still hurt like hell but, in just another two tries, he had managed to get his new mana path to exactly the size needed for the skill to work, mana mixed in with his blood and he made a conscious effort to spread it to all parts of his body feeding every one of his cells, he felt the very nature of his flesh slowly changing and consuming another 50 points of his mana before having fully adapted, once his very bones were changed the mana path naturally closed and started to heal.

[Congratulations, <Runic Power> has became beginner level 1]

The time it took to train his new ability was enough to recover more than half his lost mana so he sat down and ate a cereal bar until he had enough power to try again, picking up a second coin he drew another impact rune on its side, this time the waste was less by 3 points, an insignificant improvement.

 

Tossing the coin at the wall slightly to the side of the first one he felt an additional jolt of mana leave his body enhancing the coin as it flew, the impact was slightly bigger than the first one breaking off a piece of the wall instead of simply cracking it, strangely enough he lost no mana of his own by enhancing the rune he was just felt as if something was lacking in his body he knew that, like stamina, it would recover with time.

 

His wrist watch beeped warning him it was time to have lunch so he left the training room and went to the bathroom, this time there were only males there so he had an easier time showering, the best part of getting turned into grilled meat and having to recover were the looks of respect he received when the soldiers saw the huge scars in his chest and neck, correction it was the second best part the first one was not having to wear the ridiculous spandex clothes.

 

Leaving the gym in actual comfortable clothes he made his way towards the cafeteria “You’re late!” looking down he saw the little devil with her cheeks inflated and poking his chest with her finger, it still gave him a strange feeling, leading him into a table she pointed towards a plate very proud “I already prepared a perfectly balanced lunch like the medic said” sitting down he poked at the salad “do you know who eats grass? Cows that’s who” “But the medic said you have to eat it to get better!” using his fork he stole a piece of chicken from Lily’s plate and took a bite “Nope, meat rules.” “Hey!”

 

As she slid away from him trying to protect her food he started eating his nutritionally balanced meal without complaining, he had long since learned to enjoy all kinds of food, his eyes wondered about the room catching sight of a huge TV on a corner but all it was showing were survivor lists or war reports he quickly lost interest “Say, how was your day runt” “don’t call me that!” he used a string to ruffle her hair again making her laugh “it was fun, uncle Eric is still away but aunt Aly came to visit!” “Who?” “Aunt Aly from home, she is training here with uncle Raphael to fight the bad things”

 

You are reading story Welcome to the System at novel35.com

A new program on the TV caught his attention, the governor of North Carolina was giving an interview “The president continues to deny us any information it is getting to the point that…”       a“Hey pay attention to me!” “Just a second runt” the TV continued “Governor Eliot why are you saying this” “Because I believe in the rights of people, president Ross is trying to destroy our democracy he is lying to the people and refuses to…” unable to stand the hypocrite bastard any longer he threw his fork with his strings piercing right through the TV and piercing the wall behind it, the noise it made caused the entire dining hall to go quiet “What? I don’t like the guy.”

[Congratulations, your <Telekinesis (String)> has evolved, it is now Intermediate level 1]

[As you have reached an intermediate level your Strings become stronger]

[As you have reached an intermediate level your strings take less power to manifest and control]

[As you have reached an intermediate level you can make thinner strings without losing their power]

Good to know that fucker was useful for something, finishing his food he prepared to leave “Hmm… Aaron” “What is it kid” “nothing” she scuttled away on the table lowering her head “Say it runt” “It’s just… aunt Aly said everyone has to learn to fight if they want to survive, I want to survive” lifting his hand he briefly scratched his chin trying to reach for a goatee that wasn’t there anymore “You want me to teach you?”

 

“I… hmmm…. Yes” she said embarrassed “Well, for shooting it would be better to get Beta 2 or some other Einherjar but I guess I could teach a little about fighting” using one of his strings to pull her to her feet he called “Come on then runt, time to get started”as they walked on the corridors of the facility he recovered enough mana to carve another rune, searching his pockets he found an empty cereal wrapping.

 

Drawing the rune on the move proved to be a harder ordeal than he expected as his concentration was not wholly on the magic causing him to lose over 630 mana before completing the thing his only blessing being the fact that Lily was a quiet kid, had she bothered him even once he may well have botched the thing and the backlash would have been a bitch, this time he tried to program the rune differently, instead of exploding on impact he tried to make it activate some time after it hit only managing to make it have a 1 second delay, releasing the wrapping he watched it fall down.

 

Bang!

 

Lily gave a high pitched scream at the loud noise, the wrapping had been blown to pieces by the strength of the rune but the ground was left mostly intact, it seems material and surface area of the object really affected the power of the <impact rune> by a huge amount.

 

Thinking about possible uses for this new tool he lead the girl until they were on the open air training grounds “Okay midget pay attention” “Uhmm” she grunted and straightened herself “I guess since you’re a kid you probably won’t be fighting anytime soon but it is always better to be prepared, first and most important is stretching and endurance” taking turns with her he stretched in every way possible for a whole 25 minutes, her young body making it easier then started a very light jog for another 30 getting their bodies heated up for exercise.

 

“That’s it Lily breath deeply trough your nose and release from your mouth, try to keep your breath even” letting her rest a whole minute he continued “Now, the style I am gonna teach you is not the fasted one to learn and you won’t be anywhere near competent for a long time but, then again, you wouldn’t win a physical fight with any monster soon no matter what I taught you so it doesn’t really matter that much now imitate me.”

 

“Spread your legs half a step beyond your shoulders and lower your waist until your body forms a 90º angle with your legs” “What is nimth decres?” “Like this, yes keep your back straight, good that positions is called the horse stance keep it for as long as you can, now make a fist with your hands and hold them at your waist, when I count I want you to rotate your wrist like this and punch out like me every time I count punch once with each arm, HA” he gave a single punch with all his strength ahead of him then repeated the motion slowly for her to see “1, 2, 3, 4, Lily I want you to imagine there is someone in front of you, you’re to punch through his chest and into his middle don’t stop at his skin or you won’t do any damage”    

 

The girl held on in that position for far longer than he would have thought showing a great determination, as he taught her he went back to the basics noticing and correcting a couple of nearly imperceptive mistakes in his own movements, bad habits he had created along the years and never noticed over an entire hour he taught her making her do another 4 stances and training another 2 punches and a kick before she was utterly exhausted, strangely enough he felt his own martial arts improve after teaching her, they became purer as he started to pay more attention to each movement and even the timing of his breath.

[Congratulations, your <martial arts> has improved a level, it is now level 2]

After his new student nearly passed out from exhaustion he continued his training for another our, pushing himself well past his current limits, sweat staining his clothes, his advanced moves had a satisfying improvement as he managed to execute them with perfecting even as he held himself upright more on willpower than strength, he got another two notifications before resting.

[Congratulations, you have recovered a point in <END> your current endurance is 6]

[Congratulations, your <martial arts> has improved a level, it is now level 3]

Falling down on the ground next to a napping Lily he closed his eyes and felt the burning pain on his aching chest that indicated he had gone too far, his neck was also killing him and he could barely stand, there was a time he could have gone all out for another 2 hours without stopping but his injuries had taken a lot of him.

 

He knew he should count his blessings he was in the <system> and had already recovered at such ridiculously fast pace instead of the months of healing and rehabilitation he should have gone through normally but, well it was human nature to always want more, laying the back of his head on his hands he decided to follow the little girls example, a nap was exactly what he needed.

 

…

 

The mana wave hit him like a punch making him jump to his feet and materialize a dozen strings around himself before he realized what was happening, at his side Lily also woke up “What’s wrong?” she asked but he just shook his head and pointed up, a second pulse of mana passed through his body making the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up and a strange sensation in his belly, the mana pool on his forehead was active like crazy nearly boiling inside his brain “It’s time”

 

A third mana pulse traveled through the air and a gigantic rift opened up on the sky, unlike the one on the sun this rift was far closer to the planet appearing to cover an entire quarter of the sky, countless small things fell through the rift towards him soon painting the late afternoon sky full with the bright light from countless falling stars, then came the thing, it was so tremendously huge it was hard to believe, it was glowing in a soft blue light and as round as a ball, a second moon had came into the sky he was speechless but, by his side, his little companion had the right words for it “Beautiful!”

 

[SYSTEM WARNING! Creatures are invading your world, be advised that new monsters won’t spawn on already conquered cities!]

[SYSTEM WARNING! Beware stronger creatures of the lesser races have arrived at your world, beware mortal races have now arrived at your world.]

[SYSTEM WARNING! Mana has flooded your world, experience gains for your race have been recalculated, it is now possible to acquire a job. Nests can now be formed naturally]