Klaus woke up from his sleep. The book he was supposed to be reading was lying on his lap. He looked at the window, the sea looked calm under the night sky.
"Ah, I fell asleep."
Rising from his seat, he put the book back on the shelf. His eyes still heavy, he decided to continue his sleep in his bedroom.
As he walked down the stairs, he saw Joanna walking in the shadows. Naturally, Klaus was curious about his little sister.
He followed Joanna who was sneaking towards the back of the house. The girl turned her head left and right as she stepped into the lawn.
Klaus continued to follow her, until she arrived at a small flower garden covered by ornamental shrubs. A man in a black suit seemed to be waiting for her there.
Spotting the figure, Klaus raised one eyebrow. "Luis?"
Luis Hernandez was the head of bodyguards for this estate. Like the other guards and security members, the man was an awakener.
Klaus had known Luis since he was 8. Back then, that man was just a regular bodyguard.
The flowers around them looked wilted. The garden had been neglected since the gardener resigned two weeks ago.
Curious about what they were doing, Klaus peeked through the shadow. His younger sister and the head of bodyguards seemed to be chatting, they spoke in low tones, but Klaus could still hear them.
"Interesting," he muttered.
Shortly after, Joanna knelt down, she touched some flowers that looked wilted, her hand gave off a bright green light, and instantly the flowers were refreshed.
Joanna was all smiles after performing the miracle. Luis was also delighted.
"Oh, you're an awakener, huh," Klaus said casually as he approached them.
Instantly, Joanna and Luis were surprised.
"K-Klaus."
Her younger sister stammered. She signaled Klaus to be quiet by putting her index finger to her lips.
And the head of bodyguards was still dumbfounded. As a veteran awakener, Luis was able to sense monsters within a 20 meter radius, but couldn't sense the presence of Klaus hiding in the shadows. It was enough to make him wonder.
"So, you're hiding your power. Honestly, it's quite surprising. Since when did you experience awakening?" asked Klaus.
Joanna hissed. "I'll tell you, but it's a secret, okay?"
Klaus simply nodded.
It turned out that Joanna had only experienced awakening lately. One week ago, when she accidentally cut her finger with a knife, suddenly her hand was able to emit green light and the wound on her finger closed.
For a few days, Joanna tried to use her powers on her own, but sometimes it worked and sometimes it failed. She needed someone to train her, but she wanted to keep her powers a secret, especially from her mother. So, she jumped to the conclusion to tell her secret to the most experienced person in this mansion, Luis.
The two of them practiced her power together every night. With Luis' experience, Joanna got better at mastering her power.
"Oh, so you are a magical doctor." Klaus simply made a haphazard conclusion based on her story.
And Joanna smiled proudly as she nodded her head.
"More precisely, she's a healer." Luis joined in their conversation.
One of Klaus' eyebrows raised, his attention turned to Luis. "I forgot that you're a professional awakener. Can you explain it to me? There aren't many books I've read about awakeners and school doesn't cover them."
Most of the books Klaus read were classic novels and scientific books. In his previous life, science and literature did not exist, so he was very interested in these dual things.
Besides, the people in this world had just learned mana. So Klaus' knowledge of magic and mana was much higher than them. It was just that he never experienced awakening.
This made him a little curious.
Luis pursed his lips. "Hmm, I heard you like studying, but you don't know much about awakeners. Alright then, I'll show you something."
The man stretched out his hands, shortly after, flames appeared in both of his palms. Joanna opened her eyes wide while Klaus just put on a flat face.
"You see this fire in my hands? This is just the beginning."
Not long after, Luis floated, and he spun around in the air with fire burning in his hands. Instantly, Joanna dropped her jaw.
All this time, she had been in a safe neighborhood far from the hotspots where monsters usually pop up. Joanna had only seen the power of the awakeners on television, she had never seen their power in person. Besides, her mother forbade the bodyguards from showing their power to the kids.
After floating in the air for a few moments, Luis landed, and the fire in his hands went out.
"Now, you guessed it, between my hand releasing fire and when I'm floating in the air, which do you think my power really is?"
Joanna squinted.
As his sister was deep in thought, Klaus answered Luis' question. "Both of them."
The blonde-haired girl glanced at him with a skeptical look.
Luis snapped his fingers. "That's right."
Naturally, Joanna was surprised, and unintentionally said "huh".
The head of bodyguards began to explain.
Each awakener had special abilities that were different from each other. Some of them were able to move objects with their minds. Some could see through invisibility. Some were able to control gravity.
These unique abilities were called "talent".
Apart from talent, awakeners also had other privileges. Since the awakening phenomenon, researchers had discovered a new particle that could manipulate elements on Earth.
This particle was called "mana".
Only awakeners were able to utilize mana directly, while ordinary humans needed a special medium.
Over the past 17 years, they had categorized eight elements that could be manipulated with the help of mana.
Fire, water, wind, wood, earth, metal, lightning, and light.
However, only those who had an elemental affinity could manipulate elements, not all awakeners possessed this ability. Normally, an awakener only had one elemental affinity, but in certain cases, there were some individuals who had a strong affinity for two or three elements at once.
Broadly speaking, awakeners had two types of powers; talent and elemental manipulation. Both of them consumed mana.
This was quite interesting to Klaus.
"Do you understand?" asked Luis after giving a long explanation.
Joanna frowned, as if her head was puffing smoke. While Klaus certainly understood it very easily.
Based on Luis' information, there were a few minor differences between this world and the world of his previous life.
In Klaus' world, talent and elemental manipulation were commonly referred to as magic. However, to use magic, one needed to do years of training and research. And each individual was able to use various types of magic depending on their knowledge.
"We've been talking here for an hour, this should be used for my training. But never mind. I'm sleepy, I want to go bed." Joanna yawned.
"Well, good night then. And please don't tell your mom about what happened here," Luis pleaded.
"Relax, I didn't see anything." Klaus winked.
The bodyguard and the two siblings left the small garden separately.
As Klaus and Joanna walked together towards the mansion, the younger sister suddenly threw her arms around her brother's neck.
"Hey, since you already know my secret, I need your help for tomorrow," she whispered.
Raising one eyebrow, Klaus was intrigued by his little sister's request. "What is it?"
"Tomorrow I'm going to the Awakener Association in Downtown. You accompany me, okay?" Before Klaus could answer, his sister made a decision. "I'll say it's yes."
After that, the girl ran into the mansion. Klaus could only sigh imagining what troublesome things would happen tomorrow.
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