Kyne was still ecstatic over the discovery of fire manipulation when the world around him began to spin.
It was not an ordinary dizziness. It was a sudden collapse, as if someone had pulled a plug that sustained his vital energy.
His legs turned to jelly, his muscles lost all tension, and he fell heavily to the ground, half inside the bonfire that was now dying down, half outside.
"What the hell?" His voice came out as a hoarse whisper, almost inaudible.
The sensation was strange. It was not pain, it was not muscular fatigue. It was a fundamental weakness, as if his very existence were draining away.
He tried to move a finger, but his hand did not respond. He tried to turn his head, but his neck was paralyzed.
Then, like a belated revelation, the piece clicked into place in his mind.
"What I just did… that was some kind of magic, wasn't it? I controlled fire somehow…"
It was obvious now. The fireball, the manipulation of the flames, that was not just a physical ability. It was magic. And magic, in the stories he read, always had a cost.
"Usually you need mana for that. Something I definitely must not have much of." He reasoned, his mind working slowly against the fog of exhaustion.
"I believe I spent all the mana I had on that little fireball. And for that reason I can't move…"
Kyne guessed, but the explanation made sense. He had Mana Affinity of rank F-, the lowest possible classification. Most likely, his mana reservoir was minuscule, and he had completely exhausted it with that single act.
But instead of panic or frustration, a laugh began to rise in his throat. Weak, hissing sounds at first, which turned into full, hoarse laughter that shook his paralyzed body against the forest floor.
"HAHA! This is… this is incredible!" He managed to articulate between laughs.
"There is actually magic in this world!"
Well, he should have already known that. The environmental mana that had killed him when he arrived was proof enough. But he had not imagined that he would be able to use it so quickly, so directly.
"This was definitely due to my affinity with fire, wasn't it?" Kyne asked the empty air, his voice laden with discovery.
He could not move, could not do absolutely anything besides laugh and think. So he decided to do what he always did when he wanted information.
"Status."
————————————————————
[Immortal Adaptation System — Status]
Name: Kyne Fritz
Age: 18
Talents: Immortal Adaptation (Unknown Rank)
Rank: F-
[Adaptations] (+)
[Skills] (+)
————————————————————
The screen appeared to be floating before his eyes, defying the immobility of the rest of his body. This time, he noticed something different. The Adaptations option was minimized, and just below it, a new function appeared.
"Skills."
With a thought, he opened it.
[Skills] (-)
{Fire Manipulation (E)}
Kyne focused on the skill, and the description appeared.
[Fire Manipulation (E): Using mana, it is possible to manipulate existing flames. The range and strength depend on the amount of mana.]
The basic explanation was exactly what Kyne had imagined.
"I must have learned this skill due to my affinity with fire…" He reasoned.
"But I definitely don't have any mana, now even less. I have an affinity with mana, but it's low rank… I also don't know how to absorb mana or how to increase the rank…"
He thought for a moment, his analytical mind working despite the extreme exhaustion. If mana was like a muscle, perhaps using it repeatedly would strengthen it.
Or perhaps he needed a specific training method.
"Well, there's no point in breaking my head over it, sooner or later I'll figure it out." He concluded, accepting the temporary ignorance.
"For now, I just need to recover."
Kyne then took another look at his status, his eyes scanning each adaptation, each classification. Spatial Pressure Resistance (A-), Fire Resistance (D-), the various other resistances… That was truly incredible.
He wondered if in the future he would truly become immortal after upgrading all his resistances to the maximum level. If there even was a maximum level.
The system seemed to work in ranks from F to A based on the adaptations he had so far, but he had an A- in something. That suggested progress was possible, perhaps even beyond what he could imagine.
Kyne remained motionless for two more entire hours.
The part of his body that was still inside the remnants of the bonfire began to turn red and lightly sting. His fire resistance at Rank E- did not make him completely immune, only extremely resistant. After hours of continuous exposure, even his adapted body began to show signs of burning, but nothing too serious.
He then decided to try something. Due to his affinity with fire, he had felt a connection with the flames. Perhaps he had a connection with mana, even if it was the most basic one.
He closed his eyes, one of the few actions he still controlled, and tried to concentrate on the world around him.
He tried to feel something, not the flames, but the more subtle energy that he assumed was the ambient mana. He tried to imagine that energy flowing into him, filling the emptiness he felt, accelerating his recovery.
He tried and tried, but it was useless. He thought he felt a slight connection, a subtle tingling at the periphery of his consciousness, but it was so vague, so tenuous, that it produced no practical effect at all.
It seemed that his affinity with mana was of such a low rank that its only function was to allow him to process mana in order to survive in this world.
Using it actively, manipulating it intentionally, required a level of control that he simply did not possess. Yet.
Kyne remained on the ground for two more hours.
Finally, like water beginning to flow again after a freeze, he felt something change. The absolute exhaustion began to recede, very slowly. First, he managed to move a finger, his right index finger. Then, the other fingers. Minutes later, he managed to flex his wrists.
Little by little, like a system being rebooted piece by piece, control returned. First the fingers, then the hands, then the arms. It took another twenty minutes before he was able to sit up, supporting himself heavily on his trembling arms.