14 The Begining

There once was a girl all alone in the street," she said. "No matter how much she begged or cried, no one would help her." … She asked herself, "What was humanity?"

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I groaned as I got up from my bed. I mumbled incoherently and wobbled to the window to let in some light into the gloomy room.

Immediately, the room cast away all shadows and radiated with heavenly glow.

I sighed.

No matter how long I stay here, I don't think I could get used to the change in scenery. How dirty was my old house for normal light to look this beautiful.

(EA) I'm in wonder. It's like exchanging a spot covered brick for a block of gold. Or exchanging wheat for a seasonal pass at a 4 star restaurant.

Dude, that sounds heavenly.

(EA) I know.

It's been about three months since we arrived in this world after magically teleporting out of a cavern after being chased around by a psychotic murderer. We met a stupid prince-

(EA) two actually.

Oh yeah, two princes and a demonic dictator grandma.

Apparently this was a high tech fantasy world we were in. With robots and flying cars and magic and monsters.

(EA) why couldn't this be a medieval setting? Now that would have been great.

No, we wouldn't have the quantity of books or the quality of entertainment.

(EA) true dat.

(Female Voice) Good Morning Ark.

Good morning Dawn.

Ah yes, I forgot to mention but with this high tech civilization came the PAIC or Personalized Artificial Intelligence Chip, or how most people call it, the system. My chip demanded a name so I call her Dawn.

The PAIC was made about a hundred years ago by Charles Babbage. He had the amazing accomplishment of advancing civilization to what it is today. And yes, for those computer geek out there. Charles Babbage was a person from earth. Our home. Sadly he does about ten years ago. I wanted to meet him.

(EA) What a pity.

(Dawn) Anomaly detected in consciousness, permission to exterminate?

(EA) FUCK!!! STOP HER ARK! STOP HER BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE-

(Dawn) isolating potential threat... isolation complete. Permission to exterminate?

I sighed.

No Dawn, as I mentioned to you every single day, do not exterminate him please.

Dawn went silent before answering with a slightly disappointed voice.

(Dawn) ...order aknowledged

And please release him too.

(Dawn) ...

Please?

(Dawn) ...Fine.

(EA)...-HELP ME ARK, DON'T LEAVE ME PLEASE-

(Dawn) requesting anomaly to shut up.

(EA) I'M OUT! YES, THANK YOU ARK!

(Dawn) Dawn will shut down the anomaly due to the anomaly being annoying.

(EA) ... sorry ma'am.

I sighed again.

I asked about James's AI but he replied by saying that his AI was bland and emotionless. The chip wouldn't respond unless it was asked a question, unlike mine who was constantly lively.

I glanced out of the window and saw a bunch of flying cars and a few flying people.

In this world was a phenomenon called Awakening. It was when a human broke past rank 0 barrier and entered rank 1. That is when people gained powers such as ability to wield magic or gain abilities.

The type of abilities are generally placed into two categories. Magic type and physical type. Magical type abilities are separated into two categories, element abilities or Intellectual abilities.

Elemental abilities are abilities that focus on an element while intellectual abilities are abilities that grow stronger based on talent.

(EA) Wow, great explanation. "Elemental abilities are abilities that focus on an element"

(Dawn) permission to exterminate?

(EA) merciful god Ark, your words of knowledge is admired by all.

...

The main difference between the two types were that elemental abilities are more powerful than intellectual abilities but intellectual abilities are diverse and useful in a variety of situation. Best example of this would be a fire mage being compared to a mage that can use many elements.

The fire mage individually has more power than the other mage but say that the monster they were facing lived in water, the fire mage's spell would be severely weakened while the other mage could switch to a different element.

However element focused mages learn to control their elements innately, while the intellectual mage needs talent and effort to control magic. Thus, element abilities are more sought out then intellectual. It's more efficient to have multiple abilities that are strong then have one ability that covers many abilities but is average in strength.

Elemental abilities are graded based on elemental growth, power, and diversity on a scale of

Intellectual abilities aren't graded because it's based solely on an individuals talent.

Next were the physical abilities. There are three categories: enhancement, animal, and possession.

Enhancement is the ability to enhance aspects of your body. Such as enhancing speed or strength. You have some ability to use magic but it will be hard to use it fluently without talent. Most people with this kind of ability usually stay stuck at a low level intellectual mage in the magic department. This kind of ability is graded based on how much it enhances the aspect.

Animal is basically a bloodline that transforms you to a half beast state or a full transformation. You can use magic if the beast is suited for it and your elemental affinities also are identical to you your beasts form allowing you to use magic even when you are not in beast form. This is graded on the animal you can transform into, however the grade can go up when your bloodline evolves into a stronger beast.

Possession is the most mysterious and valued physical ability. It's hard to explain but it is when you awaken your previous life experience or hold a soul fragment of a dead person. Lastly is gaining a loyalty of a spirit. You can get this ability after you awaken however the chances of getting it is higher when awakening.

This is graded based on the strength of the soul at its peak.

James awakened a multi elemental focused ability. Kali awakened a elemental ability that focused on life or healing attribute.

Almost half of my class have already awakened.

(EA) But not us...

I shrugged.

Honestly, I don't really care. We can just live our lives normally.

Suddenly a loud snort came from behind me. Turning around I saw the scene of a handsome man with messy hair who was drooling on a bed.

(EA) Seems that this perfect man isn't so perfect at all.

(Dawn) Of course. Ark is the best.

I sighed.

This perfect James apparently has one fault. He has horrible sleeping habits. Resigning myself I grumbled.

"This is just the start of the beginning."