-WILL-

SuguroMitsugo, the manager of DCB’s Mito branch, escorted Kenshin to his office as if he was escorting a senior official. Even Hashimoto had not received this kind of treatment. Kenshin knew that magic skill users had a different status compared to others, but never thought that it would be this different.

The difference in treatment was like heaven and hell compared to the other hunters. Not even senior or more powerful hunters received this kind of treatment. Complicated feelings rose inside Kenshin’s heart.

Suguro took Kenshin to a sealed off room. The room was quite small, the size of an average bedroom. The walls were made up of dark steel, a metal that only dropped in dungeons. In the middle of the room, there was a transparent orb placed atop a golden pedestal.

“A magic orb!?” Kenshin instantly blurted out. He knew about this contraption; it was a magic object that only dropped in a level 5 or higher dungeon. This magic orb didn’t have any offensive or defensive property, there was only one use and that was to measure the magic quantity and quality.

DCBs of all around the world were using this device to measure equipment class, skill’s strength, and also the level of a hunter.

Generally, there are two ways to measure the level of a hunter.

Use the magic orb Have the hunter kill a monster of a higher level.

The first method was accurate and safe, while the second method not only was not accurate but also dangerous. Previously, when Kenshin had first applied for his hunter’s license, he was asked to show his skill’s powers. At that time, he did not know the usage of the skill; as a result, the DCB marked it as a useless skill.

Generally, when a hunter awakenes a skill or learn it from a skill book, the information regarding that skill automatically appears in their memory; but Kenshin never experienced such events happening to him ever.

This time, however, that would differ.

“You are aware of this orb’s property, I assume!? Then that makes it simpler, just put your hand on the orb and channel your skill through it” Suguro advised.

With a nod, Kenshin placed his right hand on the orb and slowly channeled his Flame Slash through it. Like a burning candle, the orb started glowing a dim red color before getting brighter every second.

Finally, after some time, the light from the orb stopped increasing. At this point, the orb was glowing like a miniature sun, lighting the whole room.

“This…!” Suguro was speechless. He retrieved his walkie-talkie and immediately called his assistant.

“Oi, Yutani! What are the radiation readings in the Testing room?”

“Just a second sir!”

A few seconds later, Suguro’s walkie-talkie buzzed as Yutani reported back with a shaky tone.

“S-sir…this…I can’t believe my own eyes!”

“What?? What’s happening? What are you seeing?” Suguro was impatient.

“S-sir, the radiation level has already crossed ‘B’ mark and is rapidly approaching the A mark. That’s not all; the fluctuation error of the radiation is also constant. We found a gem, sir, this young man has a staggering amount of control over his magic skill. So much so that, it is impossible to imagine that he had just awakened it!”

Suguro, after listening to Yutani’s report, felt like a brand new door had opened for him. From the moment he saw the magic orb glowing like a sun, he knew he found an extraordinary talent. Someone who literally awakened just a few hours ago already had a staggering amount of control over his skill. What’s more, his skill wasn’t weak either, it was an ‘A’ grade skill.

“Chance!! This is a chance! The gods are smiling over our Mito” Suguro’s zealousness reached another level entirely.

While Suguro was busy in his thoughts, Kenshin has entered a miraculous state of mind. It started when he was channeling his magic skill through the orb. Everything was going fine until he tried to control his magic flow.

Nearly every magic skill user knows what it feels like when they try to use their skill. For a person, the amount of magic they could use was limited. They couldn’t afford to waste it. Hence, they always found different ways to control the amount of magic they use.

Kenshin was also trying to do the same. Flaming Slash uses 10 MP to dish out 60 damage points at its current level, and Kenshin was trying to reduce the mana required to 9 MP. As he was trying various ways to do so, he suddenly remembered a talk he had with his sister a few years back.

FLASHBACK

“Big brother, you know, magic is like our blood. It flows throughout our body even though we don’t have access to them. But, unlike blood, we can somewhat feel it flowing inside our body. As everyone knows, magic is necessary to power up a magic skill, therefore for a magic skill user, controlling their flow of magic is even more important. If they don’t control this flow, then they will waste a large amount of magic everytime they attempted to use the skill.

To control the flow of the magic, one must learn, how to interact with it. First, imagine the magic as water and our body as the pipe. Generally, a pipe doesn’t have any control devices attached to it. For that reason, we attach a tap at the end to control the water flow. Similarly, every time we use a skill, our body acts like a pipe that carries magic as the water in it. While the required magic is used to activate the skill, in the process some excess magic is also wasted.

To control such wastage, we must install a ‘tap’ in our body. Luckily, us humans are born with a tap. That is our Will. We must use our ‘will’ to control the flow of the magic” a somewhat immature voice lectured inside a living room.

“I understand that, but why are you preaching to me?” Kenshin asked, puzzled about his sister’s intentions.

“I feel like you are going to need this explanation. Big brother, I believe that one day you will surely awaken to a very powerful magic skill. So, in preparation for that day, I am making you understand everything I know about magic!”

“Hah!! I really admire your baseless confidence” Kenshin drawled out.

“Hmph!! If I, your sister, doesn’t have confidence in you, then who will?!”

FLASHBACK END

*Sigh!* “That sister of mine, is she capable of seeing the future now?” Kenshin couldn’t help but shake his head with a smile. He immediately applied what he remembered from the talk with his sister.

Will is not a tangible thing. It’s a concept. Then how can he use something that he couldn’t even see or feel? Luckily, ‘will’ is something every living being has the inborn ability to use.

Kenshin ‘willed’ the flow of the magic in his body to restrain itself.

The first attempt failed.

The second attempt also failed.

But, he didn’t give up. Trying repeatedly for time and again, in the end, he somehow succeeded to restrain his magic emission rate. At that time he had an epiphany.

Will!

Everything had started from this ‘will’. The very force that was responsible for creation itself. God created everything using his ‘will’. Later, he had gifted this miraculous ability to all living beings.

CRACK!!! BOOM!!!

An explosion occurred inside Kenshin’s brain. He felt like his mind has cleared by a lot; as if he had removed a veil that had clouded his mind previously.

“WHOOSH!!!

A sudden wind appeared out of nowhere and pushed everything around Kenshin. This wind was so strong that it blew Suguro like a piece of paper.

“Wha……!!!” Caught off-guard by Kenshin he was about to shout out a complaint, but at that time he stopped his mouth in astonishment.

In front of him, Kenshin, who had just awakened his skill, was surrounded by a semi-transparent energy. This energy was very weak and unstable, but he could feel the boundless power emanating from it.

“W-will?! You have already awakened ‘will’?” he stuttered.

Unaware of Suguro’s mutterings, Kenshin was busy controlling the magic. At the same time, he heard a notification bell rang out in his ear. Opening his eyes, he saw a notification window floating in front of him.

[Ding* Congratulations!! You have comprehended ‘Will’]

[All stats +5]

[Generated WILL stat]

[Generated WIS stat]