“It’s been a while since I’ve been to this place.” Ivo muttered as he looked at this small laboratory.

This place was accidentally discovered when he tried to start over in Ernest City without entering the academy. It was quite stupid, but he wanted to see how things would go without involving himself with White Snow Academy.

I don’t know what I was thinking at the time, but it didn’t end well.

Aside from the gold coins he obtained, there were many lab equipment that were already in a broken condition and there were many magic tools scattered on the floor in a broken condition. The only thing he found even after searching this place in the past was a bag of gold coins, an old book, a torch that had a yellow flame that lit up this place, and a human skeleton.

“Avian… If I’m not mistaken that was his name, right?”

Ivo looked at the skeleton lying in front of him. No one knew what expression he was showing, or how he ended up in this place. The owner of this laboratory was now just sitting on a chair made of stone expressionlessly staring at the ground in front of him.

Ivo could only find out a little about the owner of the place when he played in the past. Only his name was found, other than that, there was no other information.

He was probably an Alchemist from this laboratory form. The old books in this place were also books that contained the basics of alchemy and various alchemical disciplines.

Ivo did not touch the books because he had no intention of becoming an alchemist. It was troublesome and too time-consuming. Although he had tried to become an alchemist in the past, he did not decide not to do it this time.

And the books in this place, he had already read them and did not need all of these things. The only reason he was here was the gold coins that could help him survive until he could be accepted into the White Snow Academy.

Ivo took a yellow torch and brought it to the skull in front of him. Although it did not help much, he placed the torch on the chest of the skeleton in front of him and let it burn.

While looking at the bones that were burned by the yellow flames, Ivo left this place. Everything he needed in this place was done.

***

“20 gold coins, this should be enough. What I need is a staff, a place to stay for a week, new clothes, and take care of my rather weak body.”

“I also need to start training for a week to unlock the Mana sense talent.”

While walking, Ivo organized everything he needed in his head. The money problem was solved and all that was left was to take care of his very weak body. Especially unlocking talent was very important if I didn’t want to be left behind by the monsters that entered the White Snow Academy.

Talent was so important because it would determine the direction of development that Ivo had to go through. If he developed the Mana sense talent with hard work and utilized everything he had, while sacrificing many things and his potential, he could possibly touch the boundary of high grade Mana sense.

If he headed towards that development, then the magic abilities that he had practiced in the past would be freely used. Meanwhile, the direction of the development of swordsmanship would stagnate and he would have to abandon the path of swordsmanship that he had long developed in the past.

“There are 3 ways to bring out talent. Racial innate, Talent development and the last is through desperate efforts.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The first method is impossible because the human race in general does not have talents to be proud of. Except for people who are born with special talents, such as Raven Astrea who has a lot of talents, or Veronica who was born with the Ice Body Crystallization Talent. As a player, without a certain method, it is impossible to obtain Talents like this.

As a destiny player, the second method cannot be accessed because when we start the game our age has exceeded the specified limit. The last method is through the accumulation of real experience. Usually, the talents obtained in this way are not as great as innate Talents or talent development. Talents produced in this way are common in the academy area.

The qualifications I have now will not allow me to survive the test on the island. This is also the reason why players often curse the developers for the terrible level of difficulty.

Even almost everyone in the community including himself agrees that starting from Ernest City is not meant to be a starting point.

“First of all, I will start by developing mana sense. Not as a skill, but as a talent.”

Ivo went to one of the inns he always went to when starting from Ernest City. After taking a train to the outskirts of Ernest City, he arrived at a familiar place.

This was neither a good nor a bad place. The quality was standard but the service was quite good. The reason Ivo chose this place was because it had a magic tool that could dampen sound and ensure the silence and privacy of visitors.

There weren’t many places like this. Ivo only knew that a simple inn like this could have such valuable magic tools because the owner was not a simple person.

Fortunately, the owner didn’t care who came or went from this inn. As long as his descendants who took care of this place were not disturbed, then he wouldn’t care who came or went.

“I don’t need to think about who it is for now. More importantly, I have to start opening the Mana sense talent soon.”

Ivo took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes. Sitting cross-legged, and in the silence of the night…

“…”

He fell asleep.

***

“Hoaammm… Wait, did I fall asleep?”

Ivo woke up on the floor looking at the brown wooden roof. His body felt very stiff after sleeping on the floor and he could feel pain all over his body.

“It seems I was too tired last night.” Ivo sighed and slowly got up.

Saying that morning might be too late now. The clock on the wall in this room showed 11.45, which meant it was almost noon.

In the bathroom, Ivo washed himself and immediately cleaned herself. Under the cold water, Ivo mobilized the mana in his body and formed a blue vortex.

This phenomenon was so amazing for the players. Feeling and mobilizing mana for the first time for new players is a moment that can be said to be unforgettable. Because once players learn to feel mana, it is an achievement where they have succeeded in passing one of the tutorials that are widely explained in the community.

Even Ivo himself was amazed by what was called mana after he was able to feel it for the first time. The feeling of achievement and

"Mana sense is the basic thing that everyone who wants to use mana must have. It's quite ambiguous and strange at first, but once you can do it, this feeling can't be removed." Ivo muttered while looking at the mana vortex he formed with his hands.

"As long as someone has enough experience and knowledge, it's not difficult to open the mana sense ability.

However, to change this mana sense ability into a talent means changing this ability fundamentally and integrating it into oneself."

His hand grasped the vortex and the flow of mana was cut off, spreading out into the surroundings. For a veteran like him, using magic even without mana sense was something that was so easy.

He had lived in this world for so long.

Magic and Mana were something that he could do easily. Especially as a player who didn’t have a single talent, the feeling he got when he first felt mana was something he couldn’t forget until now.

It even had an effect in the real world. He couldn’t even sleep peacefully and would sometimes daydream while thinking about the sensation of Mana inside the body and feeling it with our own senses.

It wouldn’t be wrong for people to say that the moment they first felt mana was the moment we finished one of the tutorial sections in the community.

[Low level mana sense. has been added to ‘skills’.]

“Low level, Not bad. Maybe I can raise it to an intermediate level before the academy entrance exam.”

After cleaning himself, Ivo put on the change of clothes in this room. Looking at himself in the mirror, Ivo tied his black hair back and went to the dining room.

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Can I get some meat soup and something refreshing? I don’t really care about the price so just give me your best.”

“Ah, of course. I’ll prepare it now.”

The girl in front of him smiled as she went to the back. She looked like an innocent and pure girl.

She was the only person who ran this inn. Other than that girl, there was no one else who took care of this inn.

“What was her name? Hmm… I don’t really remember.” Ivo muttered as he sat down on one of the chairs provided.

Rather than that, I’d rather solve the problem of this weak body.