Versatile System Online

"How is she now?" Ray asked as walked around the tent. The whole team had shifted Kashish to the makeshift camp after Aliya stabilized her health and were now waiting for Kashish to wake up.

"Let her rest, from what I can tell; she had gotten seriously injured in a big fight. Not just that, she was poisoned with one of the strongest poisons known to mankind. What I'm shocked at is her resilience to everything she has been through. You should be thanking God that she is still alive," Aliya shut Ray up with her words and went back to monitoring both her patients.

During this time, Nia had gotten better and regained consciousness but was in no condition to move or use magic. Her powers were at a zero as all the magical energy in her body was drained.

Ray had talked to Aurora on this matter and she told him that Nia wasn't just a simple ability user. The light ability was an affinity that ran in her bloodline and had been active for so long that in the younger generation, it had taken the role of an ability. Coming to them as easy as breathing but as their powers would grow; the ability would turn into magic and allow them to have greater mastery over the light element and achieve greater heights.

Taking a seat, Ray thought hard about Nia's ability and asked Aurora, "So when will her ability turn into an affinity?"

"It has already started," The answer came as a shock because that would mean that right now, Nia was close to forming a mana core and along with it; she would have to change her powers overall.

"But how? And Aurora, can you please simplify this all? This ability into magical affinity thing is just so confusing. I'm sure if anyone listens to our confusion, they would curse out loud for sure," Ray's words made Aurora shake her head as she pulled Ray into his consciousness.

On the outside it seemed as if Ray had simply dosed off but in reality, he had shifted his active consciousness within his subconscious mind.

Appearing right in the middle of his sea of consciousness, Ray looked in front of him and found three beings standing in front of him, "I guess the whole party has arrived to make me understand the difference between an ability and an affinity. Let me be clear, i know it all and it's Aurora who is a bad explainer," Speaking that, he snapped his fingers and a couch appeared behind him along with a couple of drinks and snacks. Sitting down, he laid back and took a sip from the chilling drink as he motioned the three to start the explanation.

"What's with his attitude?" FengFeng whispered in Aurora's ear while Mag'ladroth simply shook his head in disappointment.

"Aella is in danger and he can't do anything, not until Kashish wakes up while Kashish herself is on death's door," Aurora's words calmed FengFeng down as the temporal phoenix lost all her temper and calmed down in an instant. Her eyes turned compassionate as she looked at Ray with pity, "Poor kid but it still doesn't explain his attitude," Mood swings were dangerous and Ray had it coming for him as FengFeng walked forward and with a swing of her leg, Ray flew off from his couch as stars appeared in front of his eyes.

"Now what did i do wrong?" Asked Ray as he tried to stand up, his back cracking and his butt red from the kick.

"Nothing other than that attitude of yours. Fix it and it will all be fine," Those were the words and Ray turned obedient. A chair appeared and a cup of tea as he smiled with fear in his eyes. FengFeng was not to be messed with and Ray understood it pretty well.

"Very good," nodded and then motioned to Mag'ladroth so he could start his explanation.

"Okay then. It will also be useful for you in the future as it concerns you as much as it concerns your friend," Mag'ladroth said and started his explanation, "See, mana is the very building energy of this universe and everything has mana within it and all other energies are derived from mana.

Though there are other types of energies that are independent from mana and are at the same grade as mana is. One example of those is Soul Energy as you must have seen and experienced,"

Taking the wheel from Mag'ladroth, FengFeng continued,

"You see, its the same for abilites and affinities. Magical abilities are derived from affinities. Meaning that affinities are the real thing and the abilities are just an easier Kids version of magic,"

"You mean, all the abilities are nothing but magical affinities for dummies," Ray asked as he stood up and got lost into thought. Then he asked, "How does it affect Nia and in future me?"

"It's simple," Aurora was the one to reply as she stepped forward and spoke, "You have the Versatile System and its been quite a long time since you gained any new affinities since it takes a lot of time and practice. So i decided that i would open you to different abilities and then as you get a hang of it, it will turn into an affinity,"

"Oh yeah, I am supposed to have control over a lot of elements and whatnot but ever since i got my system, I'm stuck on fire and lightning and that crappy barrier thingy you gave me," Ray complained as he really wished to have a more versatile deck of spells to counter his opponents and get more powerful.

"Well, it takes time for good things to come and don't worry, you will be in for a surprise some time later," her words calmed Ray down but he still didn't understand Nia's matter as he asked again,

"What about Nia?"

"It's simple for her," Aurora replied, "Her family comes from a long line of light elementals and their bloodline -unlike yours- has been active for a long time. Hence, their bodies had adapted to it. So when a Johnson is young, their affinity takes form of an ability to let them have a hang of it and if their mastery is good, they step into higher realms and slowly unlock the full affinity using their system,"

"Also, Nia is one of the most talented ones out there and since the start, she had manipulated her ability like an affinity rather than using the simple attacks her system provided her. That's why she is so close to unlocking the full potential of her power but that will be hard for her. She hasn't used mana as it is to be used and will have to learn about it all along with control. Her affinity is going to be very strong while her control is very weak. So she will have to learn to control her power or else it will only serve to hurt her,"

Hearing the explanation from Aurora, Ray shook his head and rubbed his temple. Exasperated by everything happening around him; he thought, "Can anything be easy for me or will I have to suffer forever, another problem on my head. As if the rest of the problems weren't enough,"

Aurora and the other two understood his sentiment as they had seen their previous master - the ancestor of Ray from whom Ray had obtained his powers, go through it all and they knew they couldn't do anything about it other than standing along his side right now- and that's what they did. They stood by his side and taught him more about abilities so they could prepare him for the abilities he would unlock very soon.

Ray's stay in his subconscious mind lasted for a whole day but that was in his mind and not in real world. In the real world, only an hour had passed by and when Ray woke up. He found out that Nia was sitting on the stretcher, looking at her hands with a dazed expression on her face.

"What happened Nia?" He asked and stood up as he sat besides him. He didn't know what she was thinking but he was sure that she wasn't well, her face said it all.

"I can't use my powers," Nia said, her voice stuttering and breaking as she was on the verge on breaking down.

Ray understood her well and not only that but he understood what she felt as well. For people like them, their strength and powers were everything. Therefore, patting her shoulder; he took her hands in his and looked into her eyes, "Nia, you saved Tim's life and not only his, but the lives of many of our fellow students who were on the battlefield. You are a hero," his words made her eyes sparkle as the heartfelt gesture from Ray almost made her forget about her powers.

Almost.

Nia again looked down and asked, "But how will i fight again? I can't use my power again,"

"Oh that, don't worry. Its just temporary weakness. Your powers will come back slowly and in no time, you will stronger than before," Ray answered with a smile as he then sticked around for a bit longer and made small talk to her. He knew the trauma she had been through during the fight, the helplessness she must have felt, how weak she must have felt and the loneliness during a battle. It must have had an impact on her mind and Ray understood it very well and stayed by her side to make sure no ill came to her and that a single fight wouldn't affect his good friend.