“The first notification is: Swordsmanship.” This feels like a game, I’ve gotten used to seeing magic and other abilities, but feeling a notification inside my head brought me back to reality — we are in another world.

  “It’s an expected notification, you’ve practiced with twin swords for more than a year and your skill is impeccable, it will probably level up quickly.” My father was the first to give his opinion.

  “The next two abilities I obtained are: Enhanced Senses and Quick Step.” Just by the names I can more or less understand the concept of each one.

  I didn’t receive any advice for five seconds, what’s going on?

  “Is there something wrong with these abilities?” I couldn’t hold back my curiosity and asked.

  “Little one, that is impressive. Quick Step is a movement-type ability, although it’s very common, you shouldn’t have obtained it right at awakening.” My grandmother is once again the first to speak.

  “Yes son, your grandmother is right, it’s a simple and effective ability, not only for close-range fighters but also used by mages to escape dangerous situations.” My mother looks very excited as she speaks.

  “I understand, and what about Enhanced Senses?” I’m glad I obtained it, now only the other one remains.

  “That’s the impressive one, we all went silent because of that ability. It can’t be called extremely rare, but it is difficult to obtain. In our family only your grandfather and I obtained it after a lot of training. You are a miracle of nature, little one.” My grandmother looks very happy, I’ve almost never seen her lose her composure.

  My parents also started congratulating me and my brothers joked about my talent. Why do I feel like they won’t be surprised by anything I do anymore?

  My grandmother raised her hand and everyone stopped talking, she hadn’t said anything during these minutes, she was only observing us, thinking about my new ability.

  “Little one, that ability also has variations. Mine, when it reached level three, became Mana Localization. On the other hand, your grandfather obtained Object Perception. We both specialized in different areas depending on how we trained in our youth.” Rita introduces me a bit to the different paths of each ability.

  “I can’t assure you which one is better or worse, you can guess the difference by their names. I can sense mana within a certain radius around me, even if I’m not looking, I can feel it. When I reached level four it turned into Multiple Mana Localization. It had an exponential increase, I can differentiate the type of mana used within my range with relative ease.” It sounds very complicated, I can understand it and at the same time I can’t fully grasp it.

  “That’s incredible, grandma, it must be impossible to receive a surprise attack with that ability.” I’m genuinely surprised, I feel happier knowing I obtained such a promising skill.

  “You’re right, little one. If it’s a mana-based attack from a blind spot I can take immediate precautions, my weakness lies in physical attacks. If a highly skilled close-combat user uses speed to approach, I wouldn’t stand a chance. My ability is very useful, but it has very clear limitations.” Ritmo explained the same thing to me, mages are strong at long range.

  I hadn’t thought about that. Of course, there are people who have perfect control over mana and keep it tightly restrained within themselves, I understand the difficulty for a mage.

  “What about my grandfather’s ability?” My grandmother mentioned my grandfather, I take the opportunity to ask more about him.

  “That’s where I wanted to get to, little one. Your grandfather is the complete opposite. He can sense objects within a radius around him. It doesn’t matter if the objects are alive like people or animals, or lifeless like trees or rocks. They are opposite abilities born from the same origin. Which one would you like to learn?”

  They gave me enough time to think about both abilities, everyone remained silent watching me. I’ll be selfish in my decision — if I want to be strong, I must be.

  “I want to learn both.” I can only reach that conclusion after imagining several scenarios. My grandmother smiled and I heard small laughs from my other relatives behind me.

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  “That’s quite greedy of you, little one. To be honest, I don’t know if it’s possible to learn both abilities. I’ve never personally known anyone with that type of skill.” She touches her chin trying to remember.

  “Then… is it impossible?” I feel a little discouraged by my grandmother’s answer, I still want to learn both.

  “I didn’t say that. I simply don’t know if it’s possible or not. It will all depend on your learning ability and the effort you put in.” Her words lift my spirits again.

  “Mom, my father isn’t with us at the moment, how could Maki learn that ability without him here?” My father intervenes in the conversation. His words brought me back to reality. It’s true, I’ve never met my grandfather, there’s no way to learn that ability without him.

  “Don’t worry, son. Although I don’t remember all the exact details, I know how my husband learned that ability. He never mentioned it to you or your brother because neither of you obtained Enhanced Senses.” It seems strange, I understand you can obtain the ability through training, there must be hidden reasons.

  “Really, grandma? Thank you very much.” I’m so excited that I want to start training immediately, an ability that prevents surprise attacks is a guarantee of survival.

  “We can start your training tomorrow. We must prepare a personal room for your training. Today, try to get used to your magic, your other abilities, and your willpower.” After saying that, my grandmother stood up from her chair and left the room. I kept talking with my parents and brothers, receiving advice on how they trained their abilities, and after about half an hour I headed with my two brothers to the place where we usually train.

  “Maki, there are things about Imra that you need to know, let’s try something.” Ritmo looks calm and composed as he mentions a term I’ve never heard before.

  “What is Imra? I’ve never heard that word, Ritmo.” Sers also looks surprised, for both of us it was a new word.

  “Imra is vital force and its other applications. People devoted to studying vital force and its uses debated for a long time about what name to give it. Willpower only sounds like being strong and standing firm during difficult moments, and as you know, it’s not the only function.” From my perspective, the change in name makes sense.

  “I received a letter from my friend, the Count’s son. The empire will decree the name as official in the coming days, academies will use it and they expect it to spread globally.” It’s good to have connections.

  “Less talking and more action, Ritmo. Show Maki already, I also want to train with him.” Sers is just as eager as I am, both of us want to test my new strength and abilities.

  We moved to the center. I don’t know what my older brother is about to do, at this point I’m a guinea pig.

  “Maki, you don’t yet have any skill or control over your Imra. First, I’ll show you how my hostile Imra can dominate you instantly.” When Ritmo finished speaking, I felt pressure over me, something intangible pressing and crushing me where I stood. I couldn’t move a single muscle, I couldn’t speak, I felt my body slowly freezing. It’s absolutely overwhelming — no matter how hard I try, it’s impossible to break free.

  After a few seconds, Ritmo stopped his ability and released me.

  “It’s an ability that combines my Imra and my ice affinity. I didn’t press too hard, otherwise you would have fainted after a moment.” The casual way he says it makes it clear he’s not bragging.

  “Incredible, Ritmo. I couldn’t do anything. I tried to fight back with willpower or magic, and it was impossible. Without skill or control, I’m just a puppet.” I feel disappointed in my weakness.

  “That’s what I wanted to show you. You have incredible talent, if you polish your strengths you can easily surpass me. This was just a small reminder of the difference in skills and experience.” Ritmo looks very satisfied with his demonstration.

  “My last demonstration is control over ambient mana. We all start the same way, manipulating attribute-less mana, first attempting simple and quick shapes.” His demonstration consisted of creating spheres, tubes, rods, and other geometric shapes.

  “This is a new world. I’ve already seen demonstrations from you or mom with ice, but this is the first time seeing ambient mana. I can vaguely sense it as it forms.” According to my grandmother, it must be due to the newly acquired ability.

  Sers walked closer and said with a smile, “It’s my turn.”

  “I know your sword skill. Now, with an ability, you’ll have better control when manipulating your blade. I’m sure it will progress quickly and reach Rank II in a month or less. I’ll help you with your movement skill, I also have one based on lightning.”

  “This last week we won’t be able to train much with you, our parents need us for some city matters, so try to memorize my movements and practice on your own, Maki.”

  Sers simply vanished from my sight and appeared about fifteen meters away, then vanished again and stood right beside me.

  “Incredible, Sers. With that speed you could defeat me in a second.” Sers smiled briefly and looked at me seriously.

  “It’s a fantastic ability, but it has limitations. I can’t use it many times in a row due to mana consumption. You should start practicing this.” Sers began moving rapidly, explosive and fast steps, hard to predict, but there was a huge difference compared to the first example — I could see them.

  “These last ones were just quick steps executed with ambient mana in my feet to make them faster and more explosive. That’s what you need to start practicing.” After about twenty more minutes of practice, Sers and Ritmo left me alone. Both seemed very busy and neither of them wanted to leave me.

  “It’s time to practice my two abilities!” This moment feels like my second beginning since my assimilation.