CheesePowder

The Bayani - Isaiah

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Chapter 4

Yumi softly opened her sliding door and yawned a mighty yawn as soon as she got out.

Rubbing her eyes her highly sensitive nose quickly picked up the scent of something cooking in the kitchen and her feet moved on its own despite half-asleep.

"Ahh. Good morning oka-san." She happily greeted her mother, a brown-haired kitsune who looked too young to be called a grandma and too old to be called an auntie. Like her sister, she and her mother looked similar.

Her mother, Saichi quickly turned around and greeted Yumi with a smile.

"Yumi-chan, good morning, good timing, I want you too-"

"Saichi-sama, is this alright?" A skinny uncle in a brown toga quickly showed Saichi the bowl of salad which he was making.

Saichi turned around and took a bite of the pickled-vegetable salad, as part of her daily duties would be to tend to the family's meals. Now normally, she would just let her helps do the job for her while she tends on to her other duties but today was a special day. A very special one.

"Hmmm. That is alright, add a bit more salt." She instructed and quickly turned her attention back to Yumi "Right, ehem, Yumi, I want you to take that-" She pointed to the table just outside where a few towels lay. "And bring it over to our guest, he might want a bath before breakfast." She then dismissed Yumi as she went to the check on the other female chef and almost instantly began meticulously giving instructions.

"Hai!" Yumi quickly took two towels and proceeded over to Isaiah's room, on her way she saw Senzuki [1] peek her head over.

"Morning Nee-san." She greeted with a light bow to her older sister.

Senki yawned and greeted back. "Morning, where are you heading?"

"To Isaiah, oka-san told me to bring this over."

She nodded and Yumi went on her way.

"Huh?" Because of the fact that the door was made of paper and light material, she could clearly see what was happening from the inside through shadows and saw Isaiah standing up for some reason.

She decided not to bother and softly knocked on the paper door. "Good morning" She greeted as she opened the sliding door and quickly hesitated before entering.

For just in front, Isaiah stood, his eyes close and his right hand reaching out, as if towards her.

...

Isaiah, like usual, woke up exactly 6 hours after he slept, no matter what time of day, as his body was already used to late-night and early-morning study sessions which led him to an unusual sleeping schedule.

And today was no different, half-awake, Isaiah rubbed his eyes and yawned grandly before wiping his dry lips. Tasting it, he quickly sat up and scratched his stomach before looking around him, a clueless look was etched in his face.

Then he remembered yesterday's events and his face was quickly energized.

"Right." Without realizing it, Isaiah stood up without much difficulty and quickly opened the window behind him. A beautiful landscape awaited him. Because this house was situated in a small incline, one could see most of the valley from Isaiah's view.

A soft cold wind brushed past his face as the light-blue sky greeted him. The sun was barely coming up behind the mountains while the early-morning dew moistened the grass. Past the low fence were rows upon rows of rice paddies that reminded him of the Banaue Rice-Terraces despite not being a terrace.

Though despite being early in the morning, there were bands of fox-eared men and women roaming about in bands either to do their work or others to sleep after a night-long job.

It was his first time seeing the outside world and he could already feel its warm welcome towards him as the sky seemed to wave back at him with a clear blue color.

'Good morning.' He whispered to no one in particular as he took a deep breath of the new world's air, the impurities of modernization have yet to touch it and it tasted as fresh as it could be, it almost had a taste in fact.

'It does have a different taste to it.'

Isaiah still couldn't believe it, that he was in another world, no one could as it was purely nonsensical. But yesterday's events beg to differ.

'Speaking about yesterday.'

Isaiah noticed that he could 'taste' air as well as the power that was coursing through his veins as if he felt stronger.

'Is it some drug or just because I slept well?' Isaiah's status page opened 'But it could also be this.'

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Name: Isaiah

Level: 14

HP: 1,448

MP: 362

STR: 24

INT: 24

AGI: 74

Abilities (Passive)

Blue Stat (LVL 2)

Mana Manipulation (LVL 1)

Skills (Active)

Manipulation Magic

Electric Magic

Taming (LVL 1)

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The status page, a phenomenon that only happens in fantasy novels in where one's parameters could be summed up into numbers, the higher the numbers, the greater one's abilities are. And based on what Isaiah saw, he could sum up that he has some pretty decent stats, though it may be just average as he has yet to see other's pages for comparison.

'Speaking of which, I wonder what those two's stats are? Now then.' Isaiah quickly clapped his hand and rubbed it together 'time for the main course.'

Today was the day Isaiah would finally see if he could use magic or if all he was seeing was just his imagination. Thanks to his 'pre-loaded' knowledge, Isaiah could figure out how magic works and how to summon it. Though it wasn't all that useful as somethings seemed incomplete as if deliberately excluded from the things that were inserted into his mind. But that didn't bother Isaiah as he enjoyed struggles and competitions.

'I just have to figure it out then?'

If there was one thing Isaiah was very confident of, it was his ability for critical thinking. I mean, didn't he keep the spot of Top 1 in his class for ten years and mostly won first place in every competition, local or international, that he joined? Isaiah might not be a physical type like his younger brother but he was mentally gifted.

As Isaiah was mulling over the information that was stored into his head, he quickly realized that even that wasn't enough. For some reason, things didn't make sense. Not like magic is supposed to make sense, but it seemed that certain things were just gone, it was as if he was taught wrong.

'But how do I know if it's wrong?'

Weird enough, Isaiah knew in his heart that some of what he knew was wrong but couldn't understand why. Annoyed, Isaiah decided to just do the best he could with what he had and come up with solutions to problems he would be facing.

'So mana is stored around the upper part of the body, just below the neck with the highest concentration in the heart. By controlling them one could start using magic.'

The concept seemed simple enough and Isaiah began focusing, just like yesterday he tried 'feeling' for the mana.

The sound of air entering the tiny room commenced as Isaiah began focusing deeper.

'Oh?' Isaiah felt something around his chest, it felt warm, soft, even comfy. It was as if it was his old bed.

'So this is mana' nod nod 'How do I use magic?' Normal methods dictate that you either use incanting to summon magic or if you have created a powerful image in mind then you can do so chantless. Now Isaiah being shy decided to try the chantless option.

'Okay, so in the books, you try to move the mana towards the tips of your fingers wasn't it ' So Isaiah did so, but try as he might nothing seems to be happening.

?

Quickly, he tried once more, focusing even greater to move the magic into his fingertips but just like last time, he failed.

'Ahhhhh, Paano?' (How) Scratching his head, countless thoughts raced into his mind, theories and questions were quickly formed up and shot down as he tried to find the best possible solution, then one came up.

'Maybe there is no need for the 'moving-mana' part.' With this in mind, Isaiah looked around the room. As he couldn't understand his [Manipulation] skill, he first would try his electric magic.

"Aha!" 'I heard that cotton could absorb magic, maybe...' Isaiah reached for the slippers with his right hand that was conveniently placed just near the door. 'I just have to suppress the amount of electricity I unleashed.'

As the strength of the magic correlates to one's mental image, Isaiah just had to imagine a tiny weak purple thunder which would only burn a few hairs at most. Probably.

With a deep breath, Isaiah began his operations, not noticing that Yumi was about to enter his room. So deep was Isaiah's focus that he didn't even hear Yumi's greeting nor the fact that she had opened the door.

And thus we are back to the story.

A question mark floated from Yumi's face as she tried to understand, but couldn't, why Isaiah was reaching out.

'Is he okay? Or did he see a gorgoron [2] something...' She had heard tales of those creatures which could apparently turn any alive beings into stone just by looking, but Isaiah didn't seem stone-like.

'Maybe, I'm just overthinking things.' A smile quickly arched from her lips as she happily approached Isaiah's hand, thinking of getting free head pats.

!

She was about to place her head on his arm when her left cheek twitched, causing her head to snap towards that direction and into the slippers. As a beast-men, Yumi had an extraordinary sense of hearing, seeing, and smell, and just now, from the corner of her eyes she saw and felt the slipper move ever so slightly.

She squinted her eyes more and then, the towels in her hand dropped as the slipper suddenly flew towards Isaiah like metal to a magnet.

Feeling something in his hand, Isaiah opened his eyes and saw the slipper.

'What the?' Isaiah didn't know whether to celebrate or wonder but then he noticed Yumi.

"Ehh... Yumi?"

Yumi's head snapped towards Isaiah, with her eyes sparkling. "Magic." She gasped-out.

'Maho? Ahh, magic.' Isaiah examined the slipper. He was expecting it to burn or something but for some reason, it instead flew towards him as if he was a magnet attracting steel. 'How...'

"Ne, ne, you could use magic? Was that magic?" Yumi asked, her tail wagging like a puppy as she grabbed Isaiah's hands.

Flustered and taken aback, Isaiah didn't know what to answer.

"Ahh. Sorry. Was that... Magic?" She asked again, this time in the language Isaiah could understand.

"Yes," Isaiah replied slowly and cautiously.

"Can do it?" [3] She said in what little English she knew.

"O-okay." Isaiah reluctantly agreed as he reached out for the other slipper, remembering what he felt and did, this time the slipper quickly flew towards his hand.

"Woah..." Yumi gasped like a ten-year-old witnessing 'magic' for the first time.

'Is magic really that rare?'

"What's taking you long? Food is waiting." Senki suddenly appeared in the door and asked Yumi.

"Ne ne, Senki-nee, he could do magic." Came the unexpected reply.

Hearing the reply, Senki blankly looked straight as countless thoughts came into her mind, having made up her mind her eyes looked straight towards Isaiah's.

"He can use magic?"

"Yes!"

Senki then turned to Isaiah.

"Can you use magic?"

"Uhhhh."

"Can use magic?" Yumi translated for him.

"Yes." Nod Nod.

"Can you show me?" She asked nicely.

"Show me?" Came the translation.

"S-sure?"

Isaiah quickly dropped both slippers and looked around the room, seeing the bathing towels that Yumi brought, Isaiah reached for it.

As soon as a mental image of the towel flying towards Isaiah was formed, the towels then obeyed and darted for his outstretched hand as if being magnetized.

Woosh

Clap Clap "Woah!"

Senki eyes sparkled as words escaped her mouth. "Magic." her eyes darted below as thoughts raced into her mind and have made a decision stared straight at Isaiah.

Suddenly, Isaiah felt that he might have just done something too much.

Gulp.

Chapter 4 Fin...

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[1] Senzuki is Senki's full name, Senki is her pet name

[2] Gorgon, Yumi has only heard scant mentions about the gorgons and has forgotten how to pronounce it correctly.

[3] Yumi does speak the human language, but only slightly though she could understand it well.