Chapter 11: Child of the Elements
The moment Arthur’s finger touched the hovering system notification, the stone in his palm suddenly pulsed.
There was no blinding flash or crackling sound, but Arthur still felt it.
A wave of heat, soft and somehow oddly natural, seeping into his hand and crawling through his skin as if it had merged into his bloodstream. It spread upward through his arm and into his veins, climbing past his elbow, his shoulder, his neck-
And then... it vanished.
Just like that.
Arthur blinked in confusion.
In an instant, the warmth was already gone, and the stone in his hand... had disappeared. It didn’t crumble or anything. It was just gone.
Almost simultaneously, a series of notifications began to appear in front of his eyes, almost as if they were overlapping with each other.
[Title Obtained: Child of the Elements (Unique)]
[A body blessed by the universe itself, born attuned to the primal forces of the world.]
[Effects: Grants minor resistance and affinity to absorbed elements. Gradually increases with repeated absorption.]
[Elemental Affinity Gained: Fire (Minor)]
"...What?" Arthur’s breath caught in his throat.
He stared at the floating system notifications, his eyes fixed on the words ’Unique’ and ’Elemental Affinity’, while his mind seemed to take a second longer than usual to catch up.
"What is this?" his voice echoed through the empty alley.
If he were honest, Arthur didn’t feel any different. He definitely didn’t feel any stronger, nor did he feel that he had somehow obtained any magic powers. In fact, if it weren’t for the system notifications still hovering in front of his face, he’d think this entire thing was some kind of hallucination.
He went through everything, line by line. But the more he read, the more his heartbeat began to quicken.
Arthur wondered what elemental affinity even meant. Was it some kind of passive effect? Was it going to affect his future spells? Assuming he ever got any, that was. Would it change how he interacted with fire-based enemies or environments?
Honestly, he couldn’t really tell if this whole thing was really good or downright useless. Minor resistance didn’t exactly sound overpowered, and he had no idea what affinity even was.
Arthur ran a hand through his hair.
"Still, something with the word ’Unique’ should probably be good, right?"
He let out a breath and looked down at the cloth pouch in his hand.
There were only fifteen stones left.
For a moment, he was curious how far he could push this thing. What would happen if he absorbed another stone? Or a handful of them?
Still, after a moment of hesitation, Arthur shook his head, suppressing those thoughts.
He couldn’t do this now.
He didn’t even know how many stones it would take to reach the next tier beyond [minor], and it’s not like he could afford to waste these stones.
Would he need ten? Twenty? Maybe even a hundred?
More importantly, Arthur knew he couldn’t afford to gamble.
He needed to meet the quota. Not just for himself, but also for his grandfather.
He closed the pouch slowly, his fingers tightening around the cloth.
"Damn it," he muttered. "I’ll think about this later. It’s time to go back."
He took one last glance at the alley’s narrow walls, and then did as the alien in the plaza had instructed them.
He closed his eyes and tried to imagine his room. The desk with university textbooks sprawled over that he had yet to go through, the lamp beside his bed, and even the quiet hum of the city noise outside the window.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, all of a sudden, Arthur felt it.
That familiar sensation washed over him again. The falling. It was as if the ground beneath his feet had suddenly been yanked away again.
Luckily, the effect only lasted a couple of seconds this time, and when he opened his eyes again, Arthur found himself back in his room.
He blinked twice and slowly sat up from the bed, greeted by the familiar ceiling and the faint rays of moonlight seeping through his window.
It was already evening!
He walked quietly down the stairs, the scent of something familiar drifting into his nose before he even reached the first floor.
The lights in the kitchen were still on.
A pot simmered gently on the stove, and just beside it was his grandfather, still wearing that same faded apron he always wore, embroidered with the restaurant’s name.
But the restaurant itself was empty. There was none of the usual chatter or the sound of cutlery clinking by the regulars.
"Well, to be expected, I guess." Arthur thought to himself.
At this point, everyone should either be occupied with ’Zenith’, or they were probably busy trying to process the fact that the entire world had just been conquered by aliens.
Nobody had time to go outside and grab dinner.
...
Luke turned around just as Arthur stepped into the kitchen.
For a moment, the old man didn’t move. Then, a smile of relief found its way to his face as he said,
"Son! You’re up!"
