It had been a while since Kumi had awoken. The doctors and researchers who were called in had done their part.
Kumi was, for the time being, secure.
The moment Kumi had returned from that Pale Void, her unconscious body had been taken and brought to a pre-prepared facility.
The doctors had been working with a time limit. Before any of Kumi's elements could do any major damage, they were to safely lock her away for suppression.
At first, the time limit was theorised to be flexible since after enough exposure, they were certain that they would gain a Resistance to her elements.
Yet strangely enough, that never happened. None of the doctors or researchers or anyone else reported having gained a single resistance from this direct contact.
As such, her suppression was strengthened and the doctors had began wearing something akin to hazmat suits each time they came close to where Kumi was held.
Thankfully they had figured out a solution before Kumi had awoken.
Now, at present.
Kumi sat there, down in a rather large rectangular shaped hole which was filled with a strange form of clear blue viscous water.
Moving her arms slightly, she watched on as her elemental mana seemed to infect the liquid surrounding her, colouring it a sickly pale.
'Ayaka said that the fix had already been implemented. So my elements should be back to normal. The look on her face, though...'
Kumi thought to let out a sigh, but all she did was slightly tilt her head back.
'Properties.'
{—Passive Skills:
Unknown Level 3;
Caution Level 5;
Stamina Use Reduction Level 7;
Deep Sleep Level 4;
Training Level 8;
Unnoticeable Concentration Level 5;
Cautious Intelligence Level 3;
Mana Prediction Level 4
—Resistance Skills:
Pain Resistance Level 7;
Bleeding Resistance Level 3;
Mana Loss Resistance Level 4;
Stamina Loss Resistance Level 3;
Health Loss Resistance Level 2
—Active Skills:
Unreadable Illusion Level 2;
Preparation Level 3;
Instinct Blocking Level 2}
These were the Skills that had increased during all this time.
{Pain Resistance} and {Stamina Use Reduction} had witnessed some of the best growth, now being the two Skills with the highest level.
Besides these increases and her current state of slowly leaking mana for some reason, nothing else seemed to have changed.
Kumi glanced at her elements.
{—Elements: Nightning, Vurse, Rot}
Kumi blinked. Looking at them again.
{—Elements: Lightning, Curse, Rot}
'A spelling mistake..? No. I might be seeing things. I haven't slept well for a while. But...'
Regardless of what change had been reversed by the doctors, Kumi couldn't yet focus on this elemental oddity of hers.
The sound of a metal door sliding open echoed from above. Clicking and clacking sounds came from the wall as the door again slid closed and was seemingly locked.
A man wearing a hazmat suit stepped up to the control panel at the edge of the rectangular pool where Kumi was held.
Kumi stood up, looking straight at them. She had been seeing this same person come into the room before. This would be her second time seeing the man.
They did something up there. Pulled a lever, flicked a switch.
As such, the liquid in which Kumi was submerged in started flowing out of a few drains on the sides of the pool as it was replaced by the liquid that rained down from the holes in the ceiling.
The man at the edge of the pool crouched down, taking a good look at the pool below. They could clearly see Kumi standing there as the liquid was extremely clear and see-through. Regardless of its colour.
They looked over the sides of the pool, turning their head from side to side as if analysing the entire thing inch by inch.
Even so, Kumi had a feeling in the pit of her stomach. A feeling that said this person's eyes were locked on her, regardless of what direction their head was facing.
Thinking back to both Ayaka and Hilde who temporarily visited and gave an extremely quick run-down of events moments after she woke up in this hole, Kumi opened her mouth and asked.
"Why do they fear me, doctor?"
The man crouched at the edge of the pool turned their head straight at Kumi. Their face wasn't visible, hidden by the mask and hazmat outfit, with their visor reflective like a mirror.
No clear response came. Her question was left unanswered.
However, although Kumi couldn't see any part of this person's face or features. She had a nagging feeling pry at her.
She wasn't certain what expression they were hiding beneath as they looked at her, but she had her guess.
With not a single word, after but a moment, the man stood back up and left the room. The door closing and being locked behind them.
Kumi sat back down, waving her arm in the liquid, watching it slowly change colour.
The colour it was changing to wasn't as pale and sickly as before. Rather, it was much more vibrant, almost neon.
'I better get this under containment. It is fixing itself naturally, probably thanks to whatever the doctors did before throwing me down here, but I should be able to hasten the process... Ugh... I'm hungry.'
As she sat there, she focused on the mana within her.
Whatever the reason, after leaving the simulation her elements had been activated. Though 'activated' wasn't the proper word to use for it. Rather, stimulated or provoked.
As Kumi was trying to find the source of this anomaly in her body, she began constructing theories of her own.
'My elemental affinities did something. Their properties changed for a while and if I didn't see it wrong then their names also glitched out for a second.'
Trying to come up with a reason as to why this had happened in the first place, her mind drifted for a moment as a different question arose.
'My affinities... where can I see them?'
As far as she knew, each part of what her Properties show was reflected in some way in her body itself. Nothing in the Properties tab was anything like a ghost or something that only the system itself had access to.
For an example, her Resistances were her body adapting to damage. As if Resistances acted like white blood cells of sorts.
Her Personality Traits were linked to her mental, as such, her brain.
Although she didn't know everything about why or how she can access and see the Property Tab, she felt that she was on the correct track.
Of course, details such as Titles and the her Skill {Caution} which highlights danger in a red glow even if she doesn't directly notice it were still questionable.
But her affinities were emanating from her body, through her mana. Somewhere in her body, just like everything else, there had to be something that was holding or containing her Elemental Affinities.
'A new organ maybe? No, that wouldn't properly explain the different elements that people have, it wouldn't make great sense either.'
She pondered as she felt the flow of her own mana within her body.
'Somewhere in the brain, then? If my elements are held somewhere in my head then finding them wouldn't be that easy. Since my mana flows throughout my entire body, then some part of it should be what infuses it with an element. If not my brain then my heart maybe?'
She kept following the flow of her natural mana, trying to identify where and how an element is infused.
After a while, she did find... something.
'So in my core?'
As her mana flowed through her, she had notice it being tinged with colour near her chest. At first she believed it was-
'It's not my heart. It's just in the very middle of my body. There is something there, but I can't properly sense it. Yet it is so familiar at the same time, this feeling.'
Kumi dug deeper.
Soon enough, her consciousness fell and as she opened her eyes, as if floating right in front of her, she could see her 'core'.
'That's my soul.'
It was like a white will-o-wisp. Yet it was large. As if a fallen star had landed right in front of her.
Gazing at it, she could see memories playing out on her soul, like a video screen. Yet all these memories were shortened and cut up like five second long advertisements.
Simply experiencing this self-analysis of the soul was a different experience. She could see, taste and even hear everything related to it.
She could see herself in these memories, from both a third and first person's perspective. There she was, killing that dragon, escaping that lotus, getting her potential measured.
Yet there was something that stood out much more than the memories imprinted on her soul.
Three symbols. Like brands burned onto her soul. She couldn't make them out properly. They were blurry. Yet at the same time, ever so clear and glowing in a mystical light.
One was a neon yellow yet it crackled in sparks of blue and white. It sounded like someone was falling on a bag of chips. It tasted sour.
The second wasn't exactly glowing. Rather, emanating a black fog. Hiding in the fog, she could barely make out a few tendrils thrashing around. Yet like an illusion, they vanished the moment she focused on them. This brand sounded like a rumbling whisper and it had no taste to it.
The last one was strange. Not mysterious like the black brand but just unsettling on a different level. It was red. A dark red with edges of black and a core of pink. It seemed to infect or maybe spread itself across her soul like some sort of infection aiming for her other two brands. It sounded as if fire was bubbling and it tasted ever so spicy.
Yet even so, this scarlet brand, although it seemed like it would slowly infect her entire soul soon enough, Kumi could instinctively tell that this wouldn't be lethal to her.
Her instincts nagged at her that this could be beneficial, even. But this effect that the scarlet brand was having on her soul was being suppressed.
Taking a closer glance, she could see the yellow and black brands slowly being peeled away in microscopic bits. Underneath these brands, a different quality was leaking out. Yet Kumi couldn't tell what.
She was unsure of what all she was witnessing.
'Let's take this bit by bit. This must be my soul. It looks different from when I was only a soul but regardless...'
She looked closer.
'These video-like scenes. Let's leave them for another time. These symbols etched upon me however... these must be my Elemental Affinities I believe. They have the same qualities.'
One by one she looked them all over again.
'Lightning. Curse. Rot. Three for three. The question is, what is hiding below and what effect is Rot having on my Soul?'
Kumi had found the direct problem. The solution, however was still lost.
'I don't particularly want to go poking at my own soul. I might just make myself blind somehow or something... so to accelerate my escape from the pool I need to focus on my physical body and mana control instead, I think...'
Kumi closed her eyes as her consciousness resurfaced.
She looked at the liquid surrounding her. She waved her hand in slight surprise.
'There is no change in colour. Did my body sort itself out while I was in the middle of my journey of self-discovery? Wait... how much time has passed? I'm starving!'