Kaiser of the New World

The theory of innate abilities (34)

"Of course, my friend. But one thing you should know is that before you get to experience my teaching, you have to know why it is that this all happens."

Well... great.

"Ahem... throat cleared, fire burning, tea- Oops, I forgot the tea, one moment my dear Kai."

Failure prances over to his kitchen and starts boiling water in a pot, it's not like there's any electricity in this forest for a kettle. Once the water is boiled, he pours the steaming liquid into two mugs and adds a tea bag into both, though the tea looks comparatively different to the ones on Earth.

Picking up the mugs by their handles, Failure walks back over with his signature smile and hands one to Kai.

"Drink up Kai. A nice, hot cup of tea does wonders when listening to a story, makes you appreciate the finer details more."

Taking the cup of tea from Failure, Kai looks down at the murky, brown drink and inwardly sighs.

I don't even drink tea...

Bringing the mug up to his lips, Kai takes a sip of the tea, then gags and spits it back into the mug.

"Ah, Kai... you're meant to take the tea bag out of the mug, not try to eat it, unless that's what you're into, of course, I won't stop you then."

Kai glares at the smiling man and scoffs:

"I know how to drink tea, thank you very much, I drank much of it back on my planet, I just... I'm not thirsty right now."

Carefully placing the mug down on the table in between the two armchairs, Kai watches as Failure takes a sip of his own tea, a small, sombre smile appearing once he does.

"Alright then, my dear Kai. What exactly is it that you want to learn about?"

There are a few things that he wants to learn about, each being something important or useful for the future. Learning how to use Mana, the theory of magic, and the backstory of the world, could be useful in the wider scope of everything going on. The only thing is that theory is only useful if you're alive long enough to learn it.

"Are you able to teach me how to use my innate ability better?"

Failure blinks a few times, a hint of shock visible on his attractive face. He ponders for a few moments, also taking a sip of his tea.

"Well... I could try... but I can't promise anything, it's your innate ability after all, yours and yours alone."

Kai nods his head, a smile growing on his face as he leans forward in his armchair.

"That's good enough, what can I do to use it better, because it really hasn't been going well for me lately."

Failure raises an eyebrow and looks down at Kai, judging him slightly.

"You do know I don't know what your innate ability does or even how many aspects it has, right?"

Oh...

"Yeah, I knew, I was just getting to that." Kai scoffs dismissively, trying to change the topic away from that.

"It's a two-aspect innate ability, one aspect allows me to command things below my level or up to five levels above depending on my luck stat, and the other aspect allows me to borrow the power of 'other-worldly creatures' with Mana, the stronger the creature the more Mana it costs to maintain."

Kai thought long and hard about this conversation over the last day. An innate ability doesn't seem like something you should share with anyone, but Failure isn't just anyone. He trusts Failure, the charismatic man has no reason to turn on Kai, Kai is probably worth little trouble to someone like him. But if Kai can get stronger by telling Failure about his innate ability, he'll take that chance, he wants to stay alive after all.