*clack clack clack*
"Huff... Huff... Huff... Honey... You have to... Keep running."
A woman ran while pulling a small boy behind her. They ran through abandoned alleyways. Dodging trashcans and dumpsters. They ran while the woman frantically looked behind her at a figure chasing after them.
But that didn't last long.
It was only a few minutes of running before she led herself to a dead end and the chase ended.
The figure slowly closed in on the woman and the child. She shielded the child behind her but the figure wasn't interested in them.
The figure grabbed the woman and held her down while the boy watched in stunned silence.
Tears streamed down his face but he kept his mouth clamped shut.
By the time the police arrived the assailant had already left and a boy was found with a vacant look in his eyes.
****
I watched as teenage students ran along a track breathing heavily and sweating profusely.
Our first test was a quick check of our stamina.
I didn't even bother running. I just walked up to the instructor and told her it would be best to give me the lowest rank possible for everything.
She gave me a weird look but didn't question it. Instead she just marked it down in a small book and stopped paying attention to me.
I stood by her as the tests went on. Students clearly wanted to do well and rank highly. It wasn't without good reason either. The higher a student was ranked the more benefits they were given at the school.
Better living conditions. More money to use every month. Access to a slew of good things. Enough to make these teens push themselves to the point of collapsing from exhaustion.
I watched with mild detachment.
'It isn't my concern what they do to their bodies. I also don't care about my ranking. I just need to stay in the academy and quietly bide my time.'
My first idea was to leave the academy and fuck off entirely from the events of the game.
I didn't think I was some sort of hero here to save the world or anything. I just knew that my chances of dying were pretty much the same whether I joined the story or not.
Monsters, Demons, and criminal organizations caused an untold amount of deaths throughout the world.
At least if I stayed in the academy I could get training and have at least a bit of a say in whether or not I die.
'But there is always a bigger fish...'
I turned my gaze to Isabelle.
She had the class [Child of The Moon] that gave her a massive boost in strength and made her a staple pick in almost all playthroughs.
There weren't any 'main characters' exactly but some just didn't make sense not to pick. Clear cut above all other options.
I would like to use her if I got the chance but it would be hard.
In the game they listened to your commands no matter what. You just picked something and they would do it. There was no dialogue to convince them.
But this was reality now.
She was a human being with complex emotions and her own motives.
'What a pain.. I wish I could have had maxed out Charisma or some sort of mind control class. This would be so much easier.'
The idea of having to forge relationships with all the characters was already tiring me out.
Speaking of class.
I took another look at my skills. Every class started with a few skills. One would always be a weapon skill that indicated prior training the character had in their backstory but wasn't always what the character was most talented in.
[Dagger Mastery][F-Rank]
Not ideal for me since Daggers are a weapon that require extreme finesse and being right up in the fight.
Then there were skills that came from your class. These were more unique and synergized better with each other.
Thematical.
That was a good description of the skills.
[Mana Thread][F-Rank]
[Stitch Mouth][F-Rank]
Unfamiliar skills. Just like the class I didn't recognize them. Which meant I didn't know what they did.
I was going to have to find out what they did on my own.
[Mana Thread] sounded simple. I could probably stretch my mana out like a piece of string and that would enable my other skills. I wasn't worried though. I had a plethora of experience with all the skills from the game.
I felt a small surge of excitement rise within me. I was like a child with a new toy.
I looked around and saw some bleachers along the side of the training field we were at and made my way over to it. I took a seat at the top where I had a good look at the students running and took out a phone I found in my pocket.
I noticed it earlier when we left the classroom to head to this training field.
There was no password which I felt was probably by design. Instead it opened when I grabbed it in my hand. It was most likely something to do with mana signatures but I didn't know the details about it.
I quickly searched online.
[How to Use Mana]
Surprisingly there was quite a few guides online about it. After filtering through a bunch of clickbait and some vague posts online I finally found something that showed potential.
[How to Feel Mana by findmeawaifu32]
Ignoring the poor naming skills of the author I started to read carefully through the post. It was concise and didn't have all the added flavor text that other posts would have. It even admitted that I might not feel the same experiences and sensations as described so it was better to not be fixated on the details.
I set my phone down next to me and sat cross legged on the bleachers. I closed my eyes and started to block out all the things I was feeling.
At first it was hard because the first thing I had to get over was the feeling of the hard metal bleacher underneath my butt. It started to hurt because it was taking so long but after a while I became numb to it.
From there the other senses fell like dominos.
The breeze on my skin vanished. The sound of the running students. I became aware that I was tasting my saliva at all times but that quickly went away too.
After I managed to enter into a state where I wasn't so focused on what was outside of my body I was able to look inside myself. I probed different areas of my body that the post recommended that were considered 'hot spots' for mana to gather.
Then I found it.
A small sliver of energy that once I noticed it caused me to feel like I had an itch was sitting in solar plexus.
Right above my belly button.
I stretched my senses towards it. The way I would describe it was like if you had ever experienced sleep paralysis.
You tried to move, feeling the sensation of your mind moving your body, only to have not moved in reality.
It was eerily similar.
It took all my focus to finally manage to grasp the thin strand of mana, but when I did it was unlike any sensation I ever felt before. It was like I had grabbed onto an electric fence and the current surged through me. My eyes shot open as I felt my blood turn to lava and pain assaulted me.
I felt a warm liquid begin to trickle out of my nose. Fear overtook me.
'Oh fucking shit! I-I can't call for help!'
My heart started to feel like it was being squeezed by a hydraulic press and my body started convulsing violently. My vision began to have spots of black appear and I knew I wasn't breathing anymore.
Just as I thought I was going to die...
A hand was placed on my chest. The burning sensation in my veins receded and slowly was replaced by a cool sensation. My body began to unfurl and I greedily sucked in air.
The hand slowly pulled back and when I finally recovered a bit I opened my eyes to see a soft featured girl standing over me with her hands behind her back. She didn't say anything but she looked like she wanted to ask a lot of questions.
When I finally managed to start feeling like I wasn't about to die she spoke up.
"Is this your first time using mana?"
I knew I didn't have a reason to feel ashamed but part of me couldn't help it. Being a newbie to something that others thought was easy was embarrassing but I ignored the sting my ego felt from it. I simply nodded without saying anything. Excuses wouldn't mean anything.
I thought she would show some surprise or ridicule but she just nodded like it was understandable. She must have noticed my confusion and turned to look at the kids running on the track. She spoke without looking at me.
"Everyone has a starting point."
I felt something behind her tone. It almost felt like she wasn't even talking to me anymore.
"Well. Try your best."
With that the girl started walking away without looking at me again.
She was odd but I didn't forget how she helped me.
"Thank you."
I said as she walked away.
She waved her hand behind her and descended the bleachers.
The evaluation was wrapping up on the field so I slowly raised myself to my feet before leaving and going back to my dorm for the day. It hadn't been a long day but I felt drained.
It wasn't without it's rewards though. I opened my palm and concentrated.
A blue thread appeared and floated in the air. I spent the next couple hours stretching and manipulating the thread until I passed out from mental exhaustion.