Chapter 2 Unveiling The Forbidden Power

I don't know when, but I open my eyes.

Bright tube lights and white walls greet me, almost sending me into another dimension. Fancy enough for an afterlife, I wonder to myself. I slowly tilt my head to see the room. It's filled with unusual machines and in the corner, a man is standing there, watching me with an uninterested expression.

A gasp escapes my lips and I sit up on the bed. And only to exceed my surprise, I'm wearing plain white clothes right now, not the hospital shirt and pajamas. I thought I was going to be alone in the afterlife, not stuck in a room with an unknown man.

The man points his finger at the back, making me turn in that direction. There is a big hole in the wall there, baring the green field beyond, scattered bricks and dust made a mess on the floor.

"You caused this," the man speaks, as if to answer my unasked question. "And you're going to have to fix the wall."

I shake my head, finding it funny.

"A tiny person like me did this? This hole looks like an explosion happened here. And I don't know why I'm here in the first place. I was supposed to be dead."

The man sighs, seems disappointed with my statement. He walks towards the hole and puts his hand forward, like he's going to cast some spell.

"Reforming Magic : Molecular bond."

Light rays come out of his palm and all the particles go back to their places perfectly, like there was never a hole.

"It's a magical world," I whisper, finding it hard to believe my eyes. "I got reincarnated into another world after my death."

"So you're from another world," the man takes a seat in front of me. "No wonder, you don't have an ounce of aura with you."

I don't pay attention to what the man is saying, instead I stare at my legs. Tears start to fill up my eyes. I never thought I would feel my legs without any numbness again.

"I don't think you need to feel emotional. Other world people are rare, but not completely rare in this world. With proper guidance and instructions, you can be a mage too."

I look up to him, not sure if I want to be a sorceress. I mean I literally jumped out of a building to end everything. Now I'm granted a second chance.

"Oh," I state calmly.

"Oh? That's all you have to say?"" the man seems to be surprised. "I thought you would freak out and throw a tantrum."

"Do I look like a kid to you?"

"Kind of, yes. Look at you."

I frown and stand up, spotting a hand mirror on the shelf. The moment I look in the mirror, I can't help but curse out audibly. I'm back in my prime again, I have the face of my teenage life, pretty and innocent. How's this even possible?

"Anyway," the man walks to his table and weird-looking machine. "I was doing some experiments about transportation ports and you clearly ruined it. Now I have to start again."

"I apologize," I reply simply, not sure what to say further. I slowly open the main door and step outside. The man glances at me but says nothing.

There's a pretty big field in front of the house, giving a loving aura around it. I inhale the fresh air deeply, feeling great and alive again. I sense this urge in me, the urge to use my second chance properly, the urge to feel my worth again.

So I go back to the room and torture the man with countless questions about this world, so much that he had to send me to another room with some books.

This world's name is Niria. I'm not being judgmental obviously, the name sounds pretty. Everything in this world basically depends on magic. The more magic someone has, the more powerful it is. The kingdom of Imperium, where I'm right now, is run by a magic knight army, which is divided into two parts, Theory Squad and Practical or Battle Squad. The Battle Squad again consists of thirteen magic knights teams. They work together to protect the kingdom's people and peace.

When a person becomes ten years old, they're provided with a grimoire through a ceremony. The grimoire basically helps people to cast spells according to their own magic attributes.

I walk back to the man's room, because I need to find out something.

"I don't still know your name," I blurt out.

The man looks at me, an expression of amusement playing on his face.

"I'm Cedric."

"I'm Hazel, nice to meet you, really," I reply awkwardly. "I know I'm kind of like an intruder, and I'm causing you trouble, but thank you for your help."

"Okay," he replies, going back to his work.

"So how can I get a grimoire?" I ask again.

Cedric sighs, then gives me a questionable stare. "We get our grimoires at ten normally, through the national ceremony. Maybe you can try the ceremony next month, but I'm not sure, since you're way over the age and too weak."

I feel offended now, I know my illness has dried up my health a lot. But if I train hard from now on, I can definitely get stronger.

"And you also have very little aura, almost nothing," he says again.

"How do you know that?" I frown impatiently.

"Looking at your stats," he indicates somewhere near my head, but I notice nothing. "Your rank is one, and your HP is only two. Many of the functions are still missing, you need to work hard to level up."

"But I don't see any stats."

"That's because you don't have the stat glass. It's normally common for all Nirians, despite the kingdoms' differences. Someone can go up to rank at a thousand most. That's the highest."

"How can I rank up?"

"That will depend on your aura type," he pours some water into a glass, leaving a small leaf on it. "There's a way to find it, do you want to find out?"

I step forward, feeling curious. "How do I do it?"

Cedric puts his hands out, focusing on the water. "I'm pouring my life energy into the water, seeing how the water is moving. That means I'm a transformer."

I put my hands forward like him too, trying to do the life energy thing he just did. I try hard to push myself, not sure what I'm doing. But nothing happens, the water stays still.

Cedric looks up at me after some moments, wearing a dark expression.

"You're an Ordinary, Hazel. A person with no magic."

~

For the next week, I am doing physical exercise, any type of freehand workout I can remember. In my mind, this thought is haunting me, that even though I have been reincarnated into a magical world, I have no magical power. So what? I can still enhance my physical ability. I can't deny that I'm frustrated, but that shouldn't be any excuse for my improvement. I should improve while I can, while I'm utterly interested in the Magic Knight selection ceremony. Cedric mentioned that the selection isn't limited to anyone, so I hope I'm not an exception to that. I'm ranking up and gaining power slowly. I'm at rank seven currently. I have this urge in me to get stronger, to seek greater power.

I chose the forest behind Cedric's house for my training area. Until now, I have seen normal wild creatures like rabbits, tortoises, foxes, but haven't encountered any mythical creatures yet. Cedric said it's because of being a private area, he's in charge of authority. He doesn't like being asked about his rank or power, but I'm pretty sure he's a genius. He also banned me from going into the basement. His reason was that it's dangerous there. The food and my bed are average, though I insisted on cooking sometimes, feeling guilty to stay at his house without any rent.

I complete a thousand push-ups, literally gasping for air. I plan to work out till afternoon today. I brought my lunch with me because of that. Nirians normally gain their aura through working out, duels and food. I can at least do two of them.

After taking a sip of water, I glance around, sensing that someone is watching me from behind the trees.

"Who is there?" I raise my voice, ready to face the intruder.

A huge looking man comes out from a bush, wearing armor and his beard is almost touching his stomach. He eyes me for a split of a second, before taking out his sword and screaming out, "Enemy's here!"

I become frightened, there are definitely more people with him. The best choice is to run to Cedric's house, so he can fight these robbers. But before I can even take a step, that man yells,

"Water Magic : Dance of the Sea Lord!"

I flinch, freezing at the sight of an ice statue sprinting at me. Literally, my life is flashing before me right right now, while nerves are crying to dodge that attack. I shut my eyes tight, thinking it's my end again.

But nothing happens. After some moments, I open my eyes, seeing myself perfectly fine, unharmed. How is that possible? It's like the figure disappeared just before me.

The man is looking at me with shocked and wide eyes. I can already hear his companions' footsteps. I use this opportunity to dash out of the place, calling out Cedric's name.

"Cedric!" I crash at his door, having an adrenaline rush. "There are some bad guys in the forest!"

Cedric stops the machine he was working with, then turns his head to me. "What did you say?"

"There's a Hercules type guy there! He shot me with an water statue! But then the statue suddenly disappeared," I pant, not even attempting to calm myself down.

Cedric runs out of the house after hearing me and I follow him behind. A group of ten armored people run out from the forest, packed with their weapons, shouting. I glance at Cedric, his expression is cold and angry. At that moment, the bright sky turns gray, roaring thunder sounds, making the area atrocious and dark. He creates a circle with his hands, focused. Enormous rays of white light come out of his body, while he's exploding with aura.

"Ice Magic : Infinite Crystal."

And I experience one of the greatest events of my life in front of my eyes. A lot of crystal-shaped ice goes up into the sky, then falls on the intruder's team in a blink, knocking them out in a second. Everything happened so fast, the next thing I see is that they're on the ground, covered with ice crystals. I'm in total awe, he's really a powerful sorcerer.

The sky turns bright again and Cedric looks at me.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" he asks softly.

I shake my head in response.

He slowly walks towards me, his eyes are brimming with curiosity.

"Put your hand out, Hazel."

I don't get what's he going to do, but I obey him anyway.

After a moment, he says, "You possess anti-magic, Hazel."