"Can't I sleep for a few more minutes?" Jason asked while sleepily rubbing his eyes.
"A few more minutes aren't going to make that big of a difference," Risa said in a definite tone as she pulled his blankets. "Now get ready and meet me outside in ten minutes."
Risa then put the blanket on top of his closet and stepped outside the room. Jason watched her go with a dejected expression as he forced himself to sit up.
He wanted to go back to sleep but Jason knew that making Risa come back for a second time was not a good idea.
Jason then got ready for the day by quickly brushing, which in his new world meant using a small silver metal cube embedded with formations.
One had to put it inside the mouth and wait twenty seconds before taking it out. It would not only clean the entire mouth but will also get rid of bad breath.
Jason was happy with such an invention but what he loved the most was hot water. The plumbing system was vastly different from Earth and he had no idea how it worked.
But what he knew was that he enjoyed using it.
After bathing and changing into a fresh pair of clothes, Jason stepped out of the house and met his grandmother at the doorstep.
"Well, at least you are on time." She said with a sigh before taking him out in the garden and making him sit down near a tree.
She then raised the index finger of her right hand and tapped his forehead.
< Grasping power has been increased by 75% for the next hour. >
Jason kept his face emotionless yet he was surprised to see the notification in front of him.
Issac had indeed told him that the light element also gave boosts to allies of the one using it. However, he hadn't told Jason that a buff could be applied to mental abilities.
"Jason, pay attention to what I am about to show you," Risa then pulled his attention towards herself as she lifted her right hand in front of his face. "Focus on my palm."
Jason did as told and kept his gaze on Risa's hands. A few seconds went by without anything happening or so he thought.
[ Host, mana is gathering in the palm of her hand. Though you can't sense or see it, I can clearly tell that it's mana. ]
'Is she trying to make a flashbang in front of my face?' Jason felt chills run through his back as he firsthand knew how dangerous a flashbang was.
He was debating whether to look away or not when a golden mist started materializing in her hand.
"This is my light element mana present inside my body. Currently, the mana is in raw physical form. To use spells and such, you first need to gather your mana in the palm of your hand and that too in physical form."
After finishing her explanation, Risa dispelled the mana and placed her palm on Jason's right shoulder.
"Loosen your body." She said before closing her eyes and focusing on Jason's body.
< A foreign mana source has entered the body. >
< The mana source can't be fought against. >
Risa's lips curled up while she kept her eyes closed. She used her mana to do a thorough checking of Jason's body before opening her eyes.
'I guess that was expected.' She thought while maintaining her smile before speaking aloud. "You have any idea of what I did?"
"You passed your mana inside my body?" Jason replied with a 'maybe' expression.
"Nice. I indeed passed my mana inside your body and ran a thorough checkup of your mana cores. You will definitely be wondering what that is but instead of telling you that, you should try looking for it yourself.
"Eh?" Even though Jason had an idea about what mana cores were, he decided to play dumb like the five-year-old he was.
"Just try closing your eyes and think what is the most related thing to your element." Risa hinted as Jason closed his eyes and focused.
The first thing that entered his mind while thinking of the dark element was evil which was not a surprise seeing how it had been drilled in his brain that dark was always evil.
Over the years, Jason had read a few things either breaking this rule or using a scientific explanation from the main character's point of view.
Both of the times, he had felt satisfied with the outcomes and now, he wondered whether he could apply the same theory in Clover.
'I guess night is the most related thing to the dark element.'
As soon as the thought entered his mind, Jason saw something appearing in front of his closed eyes. The object was a sphere almost completely black except for a few white dots spread all around it.
Some sort of mist appeared and disappeared around the black side while the white spots remained the way they were.
Two 'A's floated above the sphere, one black, and one white.
'So this is my mana core huh.' Jason then opened his eyes to look at Risa's smiling face.
"So, what did you see?" She asked while raising her eyebrows.
[ Host, tell her that you saw a single 'A' floating above a completely black sphere. ] Before he could reply, the system's voice interrupted him.
'Any reason?'
[ Due to what Aiden said, I decided that it was best if Risa just saw you having the dark element with a single 'A' floating above it. Since we don't have that much knowledge, I thought it would be best if we kept some things hidden. ]
'Good thinking system. But if it's safe, I will reveal my supposed 'light' element to my family too. Keep it hidden till then.'
[ Noted and executed. ]
"I saw a black sphere with the letter 'A' floating above it," Jason replied as he saw Risa nodding.
"The sphere is your mana core, the place where your mana comes from. The letter that you saw is the grading of your mana core or in other words, your magical talent or affinity to use that particular element."
"I remember that grandpa told me that an A grade is very good, right?"
"You have a very good affinity but you are not a prodigy. They are born with a golden spoon in their mouth yet it is filled with poop. The amount of politics that revolves around them is just too much."
Risa then quietened down as she realized that she was speaking to a child. Half the words would have gone above his head so she decided to change the topic.
"Anyways, that was just your dark element. What I want you to try and see is your thunder element."
"Ok." Jason nodded enthusiastically as he once again closed his eyes.
The first thing that entered his mind was of course thunderstorms which lead to another thought.
'Would I able to create storms like that?'
[ Maybe. ]
'That would look so cool. Imagine flying high into the clouds and being wrapped in thunder and then crashing down in the middle of an army or something.'
[ You might be able to achieve that in the future. For now, please focus on the task at hand. ] The system politely reminded him as Jason once again focused on his element.
This time, a bright purple sphere appeared in front of his eyes. Sparks of thunder flew from the sphere as it kept rotating.
And above it was three question marks of the same color, each of them being completely same.
Jason immediately opened his eyes and told Risa about what he saw. His grandmother only smiled at him before opening her mouth to speak.
"That is something that even a prodigy can't have."