Chapter 3: Traits

Khael pressed his arms against the muddy ground, his stamina almost depleted from hoeing the field and lifting many things from there to the storage house. The once-white colored shirt he wore was now dyed with the color of dirt and a deep mud stain that had already clung to his skin. The panting man with him regarded him with a faint smile.

“Can you still get up?” Francisco Protacio asked in a lighthearted manner. “Well, I can’t. So, can you please lend an old man a hand to drag his ass up?”

“And my back is already killing me here,” he added, groaning in pain.

Khael chuckled at the man’s jest as he held him up and took his arms onto his shoulder. It has been two months since the arrangement for his adoption was conducted. His way of repaying the couple who adopted him is by simply helping them at their work on the farm. It wasn’t needed, as they said, but it didn’t feel right for him to take their kindness for granted, as he knew they did get nothing from keeping a potential bother such as himself.

On the way to their home, along the extending field before an upside hill. They ran into some neighbors waving at them in the distance. They seemed to carry some goods in a sack. “How’s today’s work?” said a small voice that almost sounded effeminate as he looked. His soft tow-colored hair danced in the wind’s command, hindering his sight as he tied it with his hands to keep it from disturbing. His brown eyebrows raised, green eyes furrowed in wonder. “Are you fine?”

It took Khael out of his reverie. He still hasn’t gotten over the fact that this guy, Reno, is a man despite his unbelievably feminine features. Though his twin brother Remo had some feminine qualities as himself(this might be running in their blood), he has a voice that doesn’t quite like his own. “Don’t push yourself too much,” said a husky voice huskier and deeper than any grown man he had already heard. “We must prepare for our travel to the capital tomorrow.”

“Ah, sure,” responded Khael. “And, see you later. We have to take a rest for now.” It was all he could summon to say as he only waved them goodbye.

It took them a mere several minutes to get home.

The warm house is raised four meters from the ground. A decent size enough for a small family living on a farm. There were no traces of being affluent, even though the Protacio family owned the whole land.

They were welcomed by the smell of what seemed to be Teodora Protacio”s cooking in the kitchen. The daring scent drifted onto their nose and grasped the inside of their empty stomach, begging them to fill them with mouthwatering delicacy. The two dashed as if not feeling drained as they quickly sat in the dining area like children waiting for their food to come out.

“It looks like you both overworked yourselves again,” Teodora lectured in a worried tone. “Khael, you're still young for such heavy work. And you, dear, you are not young anymore.”

“Well, Khael wanted to finish all the remaining work today,” stated Francisco in a worn-out manner. “And I agree… since many of our farmers have yet to return this week.”

It was indeed an unfortunate occurrence in the surrounding area of Ubec. The Protacio’s domain is only a few kilometers away between Natcam and the place where the tragedy of explosions happened, Niloan. The affected range of the disaster extended to the nearby residents of their land and suffered its aftermaths.

“That’s right,” said Khael with the same defeated energy. “I can’t just leave tomorrow knowing there’s still a lot of work to do.”

“But you must be ready for your assessment at the academy,” Teodora reacted softly. “You're supposed to be studying and not working.”

The three of them had then become silent at the moment. It wasn’t the exhaustion that had gotten into Khae and the couple. But the feeling of owing too much to others weighs on him again. That’s right. This feeling always doesn’t feel right to me ever since my past life and even from here.

“Were you still thinking that you don’t deserve that we wanted to pay for your studies?” asked Teodora as she sighed faintly. “We told you before that we didn’t adopt you to do something for us.”

“We adopted you because we wanted to do something for you, To help you because you need it. We are fully aware of your dire situation. And… this is our way of repaying the kindness someone gave us long ago.” she added.

Francisco huffed in an exhausted manner with his growling stomach. “Let us talk about this later. We should eat while the food is hot,” he expressed flatly. “And I can’t hold this hunger anymore.”

*****

The magical particle that they call mana is like matter that bends by one’s desire. It can be manifested with available and enough attributes in the surrounding. But only if someone has the attribute or traits to manipulate it. The fact that Khael had been studying the fundamental theories for weeks. And even Dessia Adhilla teaching him sometimes still hadn’t gotten him to perform any basic mana manipulation or even a simple manifestation of any mana attributes at the least.

Unfortunately, it seems he doesn’t have the traits of a being conjurer. In normal circumstances, a person’s capability of bending mana is just instinctive or within one’s innate traits--that, at most, a trigger is all needed. It may be an incantation to trigger the subconscious mind into manifesting, of course, what his traits are based on. And a few were talented enough to grasp the very essence of their traits just by merely envisioning it.

Khael had tried more than enough he could. But it saddened him just to be hopeful of doing something he thought was as cool as casting a simple spell, whatever how weak or lame it was. He had also tried various spell incantations, but it seemed like he had to give up for the better. And there are many things I need to be concerned about besides being a person who can't use magic.

Khael regarded in defeat, closing his eyes as various thoughts ran around his mind.

The knowledge of his previous world wouldn’t suffice in a world that works differently. As if it was that easy to create a fire out of nowhere. Khael then pointed his index finger--visualizing something in the air, and started mumbling.

“A fire, in fact, occurs whenever a combustible material is in the presence of oxygen,” Khael described under his downhearted breath. “But of course, with enough high temperature, it becomes the heated gas… and….”

Khael halted when he felt a sensation at the tip of his finger. A searing feeling formed like a shade of pale light barely visible to the naked eye. It continuously develops but not for long, cutting his concentration in awe. D-did it just… Again, he attempted to concentrate on the same train of thought he had earlier. He imagined the process of creating fire fundamentally. And it did! It really did!!

Khael hadn’t felt much excited before, ever since he woke up as another person until now. He jolted up from his bed, making a fist pose out of bliss. Then he wondered immediately how he did it this time despite his struggle for the last few weeks. Well, there is the oxygen, of course. If he somehow has the traits of manipulating the fire mana attribute, then… that only leaves the combustible substance. What could be the thing that serves as a…

And… as he realized.

The one that serves as the combustible substance could also be mana. Though Khael wasn’t sure about that as of now. But more importantly, Khael was glad his hard work didn’t go to waste this time.

*****

The opposing frigid wind landed on his face softly, like a tad of cold water in the morning. The gleaming dots in the dark atmosphere was the most stunning sight he would ever get tired of looking at. Khael woke up in the middle of the night, perturbed by the strange dreams he often has. He then heard a footstep walking near the terrace.

“Got a bad dream again?” said a gentle voice. Despite a tough demeanor, it always leaves Khael in awe of how pleasant to hear his voice is.

Khael regarded him in silence with a smile. “It’s nothing,” he halted as if considering something in his mind.

“You sure you’re alright?” Protacio asked, his eyebrows drawing together. “Teodora worries about you every time you’re having a nightmare.”

“Don’t worry… I was just thinking about something this time.”

The two stared at the distant nowhere, letting the wind pass them unbothered.

“You know, it has been months since you arrived here,” said Protacio. “but it feels like… you’re already been with us for such a long time.” His face still holds a stoic expression. “It might be because… we always longed for this chance in our life.”

Khael just stared at him in silence as he listened.

“You already knew what happened to our son, right?”

“Yeah…” Khael, almost taken aback. “It's not my intention to peer on something sensitive, but I guess… I was curious, so I asked Reno about it.”

“Don’t feel guilty about something like that,” Procatio remarked. “And… don’t feel you owned us much because we're helping you. That’s not what Teodora wanted you to feel.”

This time, Protacio’s eyebrows gathered in with a downturned mouth. His usually straight posture is now bent, his hands falling to his sides. “We might be doing this for ourselves only. To feel like we are doing the things we couldn’t do for our son anymore. So please… let us do this for you. It was the only thing that we might want from you.”

“We just wanted to feel appreciated as a parent again.”

*****

The look on her face was both unbothered and looked troubled at the same time. Dessia said that the lady was in an eternal slumber, but it didn’t seem like she was unconscious when Khael looked thoroughly at her. As if she had always been awake but wasn't able to rouse.

Kana… is that really your name?

It’s been almost a year since the old woman took care of her when she found the poor little girl unconscious in the deep forest of Darnh. An undetermined spell was cast upon her, preventing her consciousness from awakening. The least they discover is that it lets her use mana as a nourishment for her body to maintain. It was still a mystery how it worked, but it seemed the lady had an enormous amount of innate mana in her body. And frankly, it wasn’t normal. Dessia Adhilla told him.

“Were you going to start at the academy this coming month?” asked Dessia in the middle of the silence.

“Well, uh. Yes.” Khael mumbled.

“I see… I was glad that you decided to do that,” Dessia remarked. “It was a reasonable decision since it would greatly help you.”

That was a crucial decision since Khael was conflicted on whether to focus on improving his life first or get straight on finding out the truth about his identity. Of course, the former was likely the rational choice, but it was definitely the longer road to travel.

Khael decided to make himself more familiar and prepared for everything he needed. The best place for that was where you could learn something and earn a way to prove yourself in various professions. It might be different in this world, but the most important thing here is that he has an opportunity. That one thing that de doesn’t have in his past life.

And so, two years had already passed.