While making my way to school, utilizing my potent powers to slow down my perception of time and seemingly teleport to the entrance of the academy, I was relaxing. I was moving at nearly sonic speeds but not quite breaking the sound barrier, and so just barely not causing a sonic boom. As I moved across the few blocks that separated me from my school I thought about more and more methods by which I might practice and hone my powers. And when I was close to the school my internal musings were interrupted by the system itself.
"Alert: Now that twenty four hours have passed since you acquired your powers other localized supernatural entities will begin to appear or return to the world, slowly but surely. In time supernatural creatures, including both superpowered humans and supernatural beings out of the myths and folklore of humanity's distant past, will begin to appear throughout the planet." The system revealed, causing me to focus on that announcement for a moment.
"Other supernatural beings..." I mentally muttered, having subconsciously considered that possibility yesterday. Yesterday, when the system first appeared, it had spoken precisely and in such a way that it did not preclude such an event.
The system had informed me that I was the only naturally superpowered being in the world at the moment of my awakening, but that wording had been precise and was obviously carefully chosen. If there was life in other worlds then the system's wording had suggested that they were at least capable of possessing superpowers, which I suspected was the case. And very importantly the system had never indicated that I was the only supernatural entity in the world, only that I was the only naturally superpowered one, even outright stating that magic existed in this world but that it was weak compared to even my entry level of magic.
"Will magic begin to increase in power as well?" I asked the system, doing so by telepathically emanating my thoughts and intentionally "aiming" them at it.
"Yes it will. In fact given the popularity of magic throughout this iteration of Earth it is certainly possible that the first discoveries related to the supernatural will be the discovery of powerful magic and magicians." The system almost teased, stating such a profound fact with a level of confidence that it suggested that the thing was giving me a sort of hint. I also mentally noted clear confirmation that other Earths existed in the grand... omniverse, but that was unsurprising to my enhanced mind since the first thing the system told me was that I came from another universe.
"So... What about other supernatural beings?" I asked the system, well-aware that it seemed that such entities were located off-world and that they were about to begin to return. The system fell silent for a second, before responding to me uncertainly.
"Well... In the distant past, when humanity began to sweep across the planet, a series of disasters befell the inhuman population of Earth. One of the big discoveries that doomed nonhumans, who had previously dominated the planet, was that humans learned how to produce metals that hurt nonhumans, giving humanity a way to resist the horrors of the night. Another big factor, arguably the biggest, was the weakening of magic throughout the entire planet which severely harmed them and only slightly affected humanity. Those two things, along with some other events, made the wisest nonhumans see the wisdom of fleeing Earth. They pooled their magic together to create portals to nearby dimensions and fled into them." The system revealed, speaking sadly of the past.
"The more foolish nonhumans remained on-world and were either hunted into oblivion by humans or found ways to reactivate some of the portals left behind in ancient temples and mythical monuments, allowing them to flee. Those who did not perish are already sensing the return of primordial magic to the world, and are even now preparing themselves to return to their native planet. Be they gods, demons, dragons, werewolves, vampires, or even small things like duendes and sprites, they are eager to return to their native world." The voice in my head spoke, excitement beginning to enter its voice at the end there.
"Gods, dragons, and demons..." I quietly whispered, sensing both an opportunity and a cause for concern with the news of the incoming return of non-humans native to Earth.
Following that, the rest of the trip to school was simple. I simply blinked and I found myself at the gate to the school, just ahead of even the earliest other students. I almost instinctually filled the heads of the school's guards with falsified memories of myself arriving in a car and parking in the school's parking lot, which of course I hadn't done since I walked to school.
The beginning of the school day was simple enough. I went to class and found myself seated next to Diego, one of my oldest friends at the school, and was participating in class idly.
Inside of the air-conditioned classroom I had the ability to zone-out and practice my psychic abilities while still maintaining my grades effortlessly. There was something kind of nice about that, since while one, incredibly tiny, portion of my mind was all it took for me to seem present and attentive I could easily train my other powers.
I was able to make use of my immense perception and the wide range of my powers to go ahead and hone a number of my abilities with ease while class was going on without disrupting the activities of any of my classmates. In quiet, uninhabited corners of the city I utilized my umbrakinesis, subtly manipulating the darkness of such places to create areas of supernatural cold, or places where shadows grew to unnatural lengths.
In order to practice my lumokinesis I made places such as the city's parks fill with unusually intense and direct light that warmed the places just a little bit. To counterbalance that I also manipulated breezes and directed them towards such places, honing my aerokinesis at the same time as I also moved to keep people from overheating as a result of my actions.
To hone my pryokinetic abilities I aided the countless chefs and cooks throughout the city with their cooking fires. I carefully boosted their fires and gently increased the temperatures of the instruments they used to cook their food.
Manipulating existing sources of whatever I wanted to control was easier than creating new sources of whatever thing I felt like manipulating, though the creation or destruction of such things were possible for me. But my elemental abilities weren't the only ones I practiced this early in the morning.
To practice my telekinesis I focused on something that I knew I was not good at: precise movements, such as writing on things in abandoned or unused homes throughout the city. My raw telekinetic power was considerable enough that I was pretty sure I could move tanks and cars without really trying, but that was only the bluntest application of telekinesis. Telekinesis, at its most precise, could do things like move individual atoms or be utilized to surgically strike at foes in ways that bypassed even the most masterfully crafted armor.
I was quickly becoming a specific sort of super being. So far in my life I had not used my super-physique in any meaningful way aside from to fly and to take advantage of things like super-speed and super-senses, which in my case was the result of my high innate scores in wisdom, intelligence, and to an extent anyway, my psychic abilities. On the other hand, I had made use of the majority of my other, non-physical, powers.
I regularly made use of my psychic and magical abilities. My super-senses were passively always on, and I was capable of unconsciously hearing conversations in distant locales and storing what I overhear in the back of my mind, if I needed too, thanks in part to a constant layer of telekinesis I applied to my senses at all times.
I enjoyed magic and intended to truly master it, though casting outside of my physical body was not something I was capable of at the moment. That said, so far I made frequent use of my magical powers, enjoying the freedom act came with my level of skill over enchantments and illusions, and with transmutation magic. And in time, when I acquired power over necromancy and restorative magic I'd use them to perform incredible miracles.
I also intended to hone my kinetic/control-based abilities to unimaginable levels, in time. If I could master things like aerokinesis, lumokinesis, and telekinesis, who knew what other abilities I'd gain? I could imagine one day mastering telekinesis to the point that I could fly through telekinesis alone, aerokinesis to the point that I could generate and manipulate true tornadoes, and lumokinesis to the point that I could illuminate things permanently, but beyond that... Even I wasn't sure what I could do if I truly mastered even my existing powers.
While I participated in class, and the school day dragged on, I also made use of my other abilities. I enjoyed listening to conversations occurring in distant locales and even "participated" in them just a little bit by psychically interfering with those having the conversations.
With just a twitch of my mind I could freely disrupt the minds of others, pausing their movements and even causing someone to lose track of their train of thought. The practical applications of the ability to disrupt someone else's train of thought could be endless in a life or death situation, or even in a battle against other magic users, as some spells required intense concentration. I wanted to go ahead and master this particular ability to the point that it was instinctual, since being able to do it on instinct could save my life in the future.
