Chapter 5: Chapter 5
After returning back to his temporary camp, (thankfully, the markings that he left were all intact) he cooked food for both him and his new buddy.
He spent roughly twenty minutes to prepare everything up, from washing the stuff to cooking them.
"Now what should I call you little guy."
Holding a makeshift bowl with food still in it, he started pondering about the kid; the origins, the reason why the kid was floating on the river, etc.
The child was aesthetically good looking to be honest.
The expensive looking bracelet on its left arm, the air of nobility coming out of its cute little outfit, the quality of clothes it was currently wearing, and the way the kid looks, clearly speaks everything that the child didn't come from a normal household.
"Probably some noble's bastard child, hah!"
Raven laughed at the thought, as he slurped down the last bit of content from his bowl.
The little guy also finished eating, having his own little bowl of soup too. He burped satisfyingly as he put the bowl down back to the ground.
'He seems to be somewhere around a year of age by the way he's acting.'
Raven concluded after observing the child for a while. Thinking that it was better since the child can eat something other than milk or soft foods.
"Okay little guy, I will give you a name now 'cause it'll be pretty hard to call you 'you' and 'little guy' all the time, right?"
Raven asked the child as it stared at him looking confused about what he's saying.
Chunks of food still sticking around the child's mouth, looking pretty dumb about everything.
He picked up the child from the ground, wiped its mouth with the cloth he had earlier, and spoke to him rather gently.
"From now on kid, you'll be following me around. It definitely won't be easy but, it wasn't as bad compared to dying somewhere along the river right?"
With a not-so-touching speech from him, he spoke the last bit of thoughts from his mind.
"Hmmm. Curly blonde hair, red eyes Oh! Uriel might be just the perfect name for you little brat. You cool with that?"
The kid of course didn't understand what he's saying but, the chil—no, Uriel, smiled happily after all of that.
"It must be because I've lifted you up right? Nonetheless, I would take that as a yes."
He decided the kid's name after considering Uriel's traits.
The wavy soft hair, those red eyes, and the noble bearing perfectly creates that lasting impression when you look at him.
Looking like a figurine of an angel sold on some store back on Earth.
"Yep, Uriel is a spot-on name."
***
After finishing their meal and letting Uriel sleep, Raven paced back-and-forth, pondering what steps he have to take next.
"First, I need to sort out the things that I have, and use them as efficiently as possible."
He rummaged through his stuff, but to no avail, found nothing that can help him with the next course of his plan.
"Man... I can't proceed to the next step when I'm lik-"
Raven's mind suddenly jolted.
"Yow!? I have like some sort of superpowers now, right?"
Remembering a vital information the system provided him at the start, he hurriedly checked what he possibly can do.
"System, do you have a specific guide on how to use-uhmm.. I don't know.. was that magic you told me?"
A panel then popped open in front of him.
[Introduction, Section 3
Essence Energy General Introduction
Essences covered the whole world of Arcadia; fire essence, water essence, wood, wind, earth, light, death etc.
Each individual has varied affinities with essences. To interact with essences, an individual must use the energy stored within the body to manipulate the surrounding essences and formulate a spell.
In simple terms, it was like cooking. First you need the tools to cook, the ingredients, and of course the one who will cook it.
The cook/arcanist will manipulate the ingredients/essences using the tools/internal energy to create a food/spell.
Lists of spells weren't accessible as you don't have the general access of the system yet.]
Although mildly disappointed that he can't look further down the examples recorded in the system, Raven readily acquiesced.
He's not that dumb to not understand the explanation given by the system.
"So if I want to create something... let's say a fire, I need to gather fire essences?"
He murmured to himself.
Sitting like a statue in a cross-legged position, he closed his eyes and tried to feel the internal energy that was supposed to be inside him to gather essences first.
Badump!
Badump!
"So this was it.. very fascinating."
He murmured to himself.
As a practitioner of an in-depth martial arts before, Raven knew what general processes occur in his body when he focus into it.
A thinly-spread, cool, wave-like sensation was beating alongside his heartbeat. It was a new experience for him; an avid fan of meditation.
He tried to make the internal energy gather in his hands, slowly... but then...
Raven's expression immediately paled when he felt a painful sensation deep down his very core.
{Your soul is currently damaged, usage of internal energy must be in moderation.}
He coughed frighteningly that streaks of blood was trickling down his mouth as the huge ball of energy gathering towards his hand dissipated into nothingness.
Uriel also woke up crying, shocked by Raven's loud commotion.
Raven quickly focused suppressing the pain.
One minute, two minutes, three...
He spent ten minutes until he can force out the stuffy feeling inside of him.
He checked Uriel if he was somewhat harmed and fortunately, Uriel was quite a distance away from him.
'Huuu... testing it beforehand was such a good move, that would've been deadly in a life-or-death situation.'
Raven thought.
"Okay, let's try it on a much smaller scale."
Correcting his posture, he tried to draw internal energy again but this time, he only let it flow on one of his finger.
Seconds passed by and feeling the internal energy stabilizing on his right pointing finger, he opened his eyes, peeking on what's currently happening.
He can feel a colorless, scalding heat point sitting on his fingertip!
"T-this... really!"
Raven was shocked and of course, excited because of it.
Who wouldn't right? Any person have wished or dreamt at least one time in their life to wield a special skill or something like a superpower.
And Raven was currently living that dream!
He didn't just quite understand why is it not a fire though, but nevertheless he wasn't disappointed.
Numerous ideas and possibilities were birthed through his mind at this moment, sparking a new and very foreign way of living.
Spells may be a walk-in-the-park thing in Arcadia, but Raven was completely a newbie about it. So, it was understandable to act like a country bumpkin entering the cinema for the first time.
***
Raven spent the whole day testing various experiments on controlling his newfound abilities.
He also discovered what mistake he created earlier when he formulated the simple spell of fire.
Turns out, you need to add some wind and earth essences to make it.
Following the same law of physics back on Earth!
Excited, he also tried various stuff like shooting miniscule amounts of fire to the distance, creating puddles of water, small vortices around his fingers, and etc.
He wanted to continue spending more time towards this endeavor but he felt dead tired from experimenting all sorts of ideas he had in his mind.
And now, it was again the time of the day where the sun and the horizon meets.
Lying on the ground, he was dazed by the different beauty this otherworldly sunset has to offer again.
And surprisingly, he didn't feel that much lonely anymore. In fact, he was quite excited on what's waiting for him out there in this brand new world.
"This is it, it is true now. I'm really living here and I don't know what'll happen to me."
He murmured to himself. It was also the day he completely accepted the fact that he wasn't on some drug-shit or any other self-consoling explanation to trick himself that these were all false.
'But I'll never back down, of course. I also got a little bud relying on me now.'
Thoughts of himself and Uriel touring all the corners of the world flashed into him while staring at the sky.
'I apologize to those who didn't even have a chance to have their revenge against me. You fuckin' losers.'
Laying down on the cold ground, he snickered as he watched the sunset play its role.
Reminiscing some memories in his previous life as the two celestial bodies dipped below the horizon, the fleeting colors of dusk began to fade away.
The mystical twinkle of the atmosphere radiated the entirety of the forest, shimmering confidently before dark fell upon them.
< Chapter 5 > Fin.
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