As he ventured deeper into the forest, he felt a slight disappointment upon realizing that the system didn’t present him with any additional challenges to further level up his [Mana Sense] skill.

He had a suspicion. I suppose I have to first acquire the other mana skills before I can proceed with the challenge.

After some time exploring, Alaric discovered a pathway bordered by a variety of colorful flowers. The enchanting fragrance and the vivid medley of colors and shapes nearly stole his breath away. He inhaled deeply, savoring the sweet aroma.

Such a nice view. Alaric shook his head. It’s a shame it also smells like a trap.

Alaric surveyed the area and noticed that he would have to traverse the flower garden to reach the next section of the forest. No matter how he analyzed it, a pathway surrounded by such beauty felt far too convenient.

However, with no alternative route, he stepped boldly into the garden.

As soon as he set foot on the garden path, he heard the familiar ding of the system notification in his mind. Here we go.

Welcome to the 2nd stage of the ‘Mana Grove.’

Objective 2 - Reach the other side of the Witherbloom Garden without losing any bit of mana from your body. Reward: Learn the skill [Mana Absorption] (Common).

Alaric chuckled at the phrasing - Witherbloom Garden. He continued forward through the path and immediately noticed the different flowers shift to face his direction. It was subtle at first, but he perceived his body slowly leaking mana as he moved forward.

No, my body is not leaking mana. He formed a fist. It is being stolen. Alaric scowled. Suddenly, the beautiful flowering garden resembled a den of parasites rather than a serene place to unwind.

He shut his eyes and turned his focus inward. With his new [Mana Sense] skill, he could discern multiple thin threads of mana tethered to hundreds of mana-draining flowers surrounding him.

Each individual flower drained an insignificant amount of mana, barely detectable by his senses. However, the combined pull of these parasitic plants generated a substantial effect.

At this rate, my body would be drained of mana in less than half an hour.

He felt the urge to crush the plants, tear them out, or grind them underfoot. However, instead of succumbing to his impulse, he merely shook his head.

The power of the sacral chakra steadied his emotions and willpower. It eased his anxiety and frustration.

No, trampling on the plants won’t be enough to recover mana. No, a cultivator would have to learn to absorb mana to pass this test.

Fortunately, Alaric was already well-acquainted with the process of mana absorption. This time, when he attempted to draw the ambient mana into his body, he noticed the block enforced by the system had finally been lifted.

Alaric was thrilled. With a surge of determination, he began absorbing a stream of ambient mana into his body to counteract the mana depletion he was experiencing. Slowly, the balance started to shift in his favor.

However, as he progressed deeper into the path, he sensed the mana-draining flowers intensifying their pull on his energy.

Alaric smirked. Really? Some fragile plants contesting with me in a mana absorption contest? He humored himself.

This trial would have been very challenging for someone unfamiliar with mana absorption. However, Alaric effortlessly adjusted the flow of mana entering his body. Normally, without a mana core, it was nearly impossible to absorb mana rapidly and store it permanently.

However, since the mana in his body was actively being drained as well, he could force more mana into his body even without the presence of the cycling force of a mana core.

The deeper he proceeded, the more mana threads latched onto him, amplifying the mana drain.

Just a few more steps. However, this effort was nothing to Alaric who had experience in cycling mana in severe mana-restricted regions in his former life. He reached the end of the path and plopped down on the ground.

I admit, this was a fun test. Towards the end, he noticed a few beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill [Mana Absorption] (Common).

[Mana Absorption lvl 1]

Alaric focused on the skill to bring up its description in his view:

Mana Absorption - This skill enables you to draw mana from the environment. As you level up the skill, you will find it easier and faster to absorb more ambient mana.

Would you like to train your skill [Mana Absorption lvl 1] or complete the third objective?

Once again, Alaric decided to polish his [Mana Absorption] skill a bit before tackling the third objective.

Challenge 2 - Survive in the Witherbloom Garden for 10 minutes.

Suddenly, the path through the Witherbloom Garden constricted, and the parasitic plants on each side sprawled outward.

Hey, that’s cheating! Alaric mentally protested. And, just as he suspected, he felt the mana drain intensify as many more mana-draining flowers latched onto him.

He still managed to absorb mana faster than he was losing it. However, in the final minute, something unexpected occurred. The Witherbloom plants began lunging toward him.

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He allowed a plant to brush against his leg just to check what would happen. The moment a Witherbloom plant made contact with his body, it siphoned a substantial chunk of mana from within him.

Damn it. Alaric attempted to evade the plants in the narrow path, but it was incredibly challenging as too many plants struck from multiple angles.

He begrudgingly allowed several plants to brush against his legs, draining mana in greedy gulps. The sudden ambush in the final moments cost him the challenge.

Still, he managed to extract some benefits from the ordeal.

Ding! Your skill [Mana Absorption ] has leveled up. [Mana Absorption lvl 1 -> Mana Absorption lvl 2]

Ding! Your skill [Mana Absorption ] has leveled up. [Mana Absorption lvl 2 -> Mana Absorption lvl 3]

Looks like the system is not playing around. He flexed his fingers. Well, next time, I’ll be ready.

Alaric steeled himself to attempt the test once more.

***

Alaric was back in his bedroom. He decided to postpone the third objective for later.

The mana-absorption trial had taken more out of him than he anticipated. However, he had successfully completed the mana-absorption challenge and even earned another level.

Ding! Your skill [Mana Absorption ] has leveled up. [Mana Absorption lvl 3 -> Mana Absorption lvl 4]

As he reviewed the final system notification, he couldn’t suppress a satisfied grin. He pushed himself up from his bed and headed out to meet with his friends.

It was time to share the exciting news.

***

“You did what?” Gareth blurted. “You entered the Tutorial Rift without telling us? Why?”

Rowan simply shook his head, and George whistled. Alaric scratched his cheek, feeling slightly awkward. “I couldn’t resist exploring it.” He shrugged. “And I only went in once.”

“That’s not the point. We didn’t prepare you for what to expect.” Gareth gestured sharply, clearly frustrated at having to spell out something so obvious. “And besides, it was supposed to be a special moment. I wanted to see you go, poof!” He mimicked an exaggerated poof with his hands.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry…” Alaric murmured, unsure what else to say. “I’ll re-enter the Tutorial Rift with all of you watching so you can see me go poof!”

Kids and teleportation — somehow, they never got tired of seeing someone disappear into thin air.

“Well, how was the experience?” George chimed in. “Did you manage to get any skills?”

“It was an interesting experience. Quite fun,” Alaric admitted. “I managed to acquire the [Mana Sense] and [Mana Absorption] skills.” With every word, Alaric noticed the growing astonishment on his friends’ faces.

“I’ve never heard anyone describe their first time in the Tutorial Rift as fun.” Gareth shook his head incredulously.

“And he managed to obtain two skills on his first try.” Rowan finally spoke up, planting a hand on his hip. “Alaric, you’re a monster. That just doesn’t happen.”

“It took me three weeks to acquire the [Mana Sense] skill and over a month for [Mana Absorption],” George added.

Alaric cleared his throat. Should I tell them I’ve also leveled up my skills? Alaric decided to not add fuel to the fire. I’ll share that detail later.

“What’s with that face, Alaric?” Rowan leaned in closer. “You’re hiding something—spill it!” Suddenly, the sky, trees, and grass became infinitely more fascinating to Alaric as he avoided their gaze.

“Don’t tell me…you attempted the skill challenges too?” George speculated.

Alaric’s eyebrows twitched for a moment. “There it is…” Rowan pointed accusingly. “I saw that twitch. No use hiding it. Come on, spill the beans.”

Alaric released a sigh. Why am I nervous about sharing my achievements with these kids? He shook his head.

They’re my friends now. When it happened, he didn’t realize. Somewhere along the way, Alaric had already started to change.

“I’ve managed to level both skills up to level 4.” All of his friends closed their eyes, crossed their arms, and nodded sagely. “Hmm…level 4.” They mumbled.

Then, all of them shouted in unison, “Don’t mess with us…level 4? Seriously?”

Gareth began playfully smacking him with his fists. “Share some of your talent with me, mighty Alaric!” Alaric pushed him back, but Gareth clung on stubbornly.

“If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t have believed them,” George said with a broad grin.

“I always suspected you’d surpass us in cultivation,” Rowan added with a knowing smile. “But not by this much.”

Alaric tried to steer the conversation in a different direction. Honestly, he was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. Fortunately, he was in the presence of friends and none of them really envied him.

However, that would change once more people learned of his abilities. So be it. After all, not every finger on a hand is the same.

“I think you would be able to learn the [Mana Manipulation] ability in under a month, at this rate,” said Rowan. Alaric didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he pondered on how he wanted to advance his skills.

Common skills could be enhanced to level 10. After which one had many different options. The most popular option was to merge similar skills with synergies and transform them into a compound ability.

Generally, most cultivators attempted to level up the three foundational skills - [Mana Sense], [Mana Absorption], and [Mana Control] - to the fullest and merge them to form the [Mana Manipulation] ability. Thus, it was the most popular basic compound ability.

This process freed up the limited skill slots. However, the single [Mana Manipulation] ability allowed cultivators to perform the function of three different mana skills that were used to create the ability.

Of course, more skill slots became available the higher one advanced through the tiers but mana skills were the most basic skills. So, it was important to unlock skill slots so that one could acquire more advanced skills.

Skills were restrictive in nature compared to abilities which granted cultivators unrestrained control over them.

However, it was comparatively easier to learn a skill and they were directly assisted by the system. At first, it was difficult to learn a skill.

Fortunately, there were tons of guides providing recommendations and guidelines on what to do and what to practice in order to obtain a certain type of skill. So, depending on the skill a cultivator wanted to acquire, they simply had to locate the proper guide.

But then cultivators had to train it on their own. Once they achieved a certain level of proficiency, they could receive the desired skill option from the system and sometimes, even more options.

And, once you managed to acquire the skill, the system assisted you, which meant faster advancements, lower consumption of mana, and quicker activation times.

Some cultivators were natural at learning different types of skills on their own. Prodigies could innovate unique skills based on their own merit and understanding.

Since cultivators already had to level up skills to the max before they could merge and convert them into abilities, cultivators with abilities were naturally proficient with it even without the aid of the system.

However, they could become more proficient and powerful by leveling up their abilities too.

The 2nd option was to directly evolve a skill instead of combining it with other similar skills to turn it into an ability. This was much more challenging since it required a good grasp of the intricacies of the skills and a clear vision of what one wanted to achieve.

There were some guides that listed the various types of documented skill evolutions but the process was still unique to each individual.

And, the 3rd option was to merge different types of skills with some form of synergy and evolve them into a rarer skill.

This process was very challenging and typically, only talented cultivators in the higher tiers pursued this strategy. Cultivators who have formed a bond with a powerful entity.

Not to mention, having a bond with a powerful entity both restricted certain options and unlocked options that were inaccessible to other cultivators.

Alaric didn’t want to settle for the basic [Mana Manipulation] ability, he aimed higher. He wanted to achieve [Advanced Mana Manipulation] ability or perhaps, even [Superior Mana Manipulation] ability.

Rowan waved his hands in front of Alaric. “Hello, where have you been lost?” Alaric noticed his friends eyeing him curiously and shook his head.

“Nothing...I was just thinking.” Alaric said nonchalantly, Alaric said casually, “You are right, though. I want to advance through the mana skills as quickly as possible.”