Mark returned to his house and went straight to his backyard. The distance to the platform was quite a bit longer than the distance he traveled during the mission, but he suspected that the space between the house and the platform wouldn’t cost as much to traverse.
He focused on the memory, how he’d formed a drill, and pushed it through while focusing on the target location. He reviewed it several times, ensuring he had it right before starting.
He knew he had to work fast since maintaining the drill cost mana, and he couldn’t afford that.
Summoning the mana had gotten easy with his practice, but infusing the mana with void energy was draining. He worked quickly, formed the drill, and pushed it through the fabric. A tear appeared before him, and he promptly stepped through.
He almost lost his balance from vertigo, and his heels hung off the platform's edge. Balancing on his heels and windmilling his arms, he barely managed to fall forward onto the platform entirely.
He fell to his knees and breathed deeply, feeling the onset of dizziness from the expenditure but a deep sense of accomplishment from making it.
The platform was steeped in mana and spatial energies, so he recovered his mana in record time.
He moved to the meditation mat, settled, and opened the method book.
New pages had appeared, which taught him how to make the whole process more efficient but didn’t lead to any further advances.
Efficiency was good, though, as it should hopefully make it easier to do passively.
If he’d been able to circulate his method during the fight, he might have had a much easier time, so he was intent on making some progress before his next mission.
The mat was similar to the one he sat on in the trial corridor but not quite as effective, and the pillars around the platform funneled the energies toward him, so when he started circulation, his body filled to the brim with spatial mana.
He sat, controlling the flow of his internal energies, following the guidance of his cultivation method for hours on end, and he eventually concluded that he’d been mistaken about something.
He had assumed that he was using Void energy because it was the combination of his Insights. He’d thought he couldn’t use Spatial energy yet for some reason.
Sitting in the dense swirl of energy, he found that he resonated far better with Spatial energy than pure Void energy. Void was a part of his understanding of Space, but his understanding of Void was not the Universal truth of Void. It was very limited, restricted by the two Insights he had made.
In the same vein, his understanding of Space was limited to his current Insight into the Void, but if he shifted his intent from using Void energy to Spatial energy, it should reduce the cost of his spells, at least a little.
He opened his eyes after a while and looked over his messages.
[Level up!*4 You have reached level 9. 20 Stat points awarded.]
[Cultivation Method Harmony has reached 50%.]
He could feel that he had reached the current limit of how much he could harmonize with his cultivation method, but it should increase in the future. As far as he could tell, his stats increased by 20% while circulating his method, which was a significant boost, though he didn’t think he could maintain it in combat yet.
Mark smiled, happy about his progress, and took a small crystal out of his pocket. It was the skill guide for Blink.
Using it was as simple as pushing some mana into it, and the crystal dispersed into purple energy, which flowed into his body. He felt the energy settle somewhere in his abdomen but couldn’t sense the exact location. He could activate it, though, as the skill knowledge had been implanted into his mind.
[Skill gained: Blink]
Blink: Instantly move to a targeted location.
The skill description was bare-bones, but he knew the range was limited by the amount of mana he used. It was far cheaper than doing it manually, so he was pleased about it.
He had forgotten about it before, but his wandering mind eventually reminded him.
He now had movement, but he lacked in damage. He would rather not have to smash his enemies with rocks in the future, and while he could throw punches and kicks, like in the Trial Corridor, he would rather not turn into a pugilist.
He wanted to keep his Void Concept moving in the direction it was, so he decided to improve his understanding of space with more Concepts, though he felt it wouldn’t be as easy this time.
He felt the cultivation space he currently sat in should help him further, but he doubted it would provide the same boons as he had gained in the Corridor.
He settled back into his meditation, though this time, he tried to push it to the back of his mind, beginning the journey toward making it passive. He focused his attention on the spatial energies around him, trying to glean some truth.
He also had to consider what path he wanted to take it, and this time, he wanted to make it fit his idea.
He had two paths he could take it; offense or defense.
The barrier in the clearing where he started this journey had isolated him from the external world, which he felt he could use to create a defensive Insight and Concept, but he needed to be able to deal damage.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
His Blink skill could serve as defensive through evasion, so he focused on figuring out how to turn the spatial energies into an offensive power, and he already had a good idea.
The Beast of the Deep Forest’s paws had been cleanly severed when he opened a tear, and it closed on its legs. He didn’t want to use portals to deal damage, as that felt like an expensive path, but if he could split space and create minor tears that could cut into his enemies, he would have solid offensive potential.
He focused his mind in that direction, and as time passed, he started gleaning more and more from the mana flowing through him.
He considered space a fabric, the flows of mana as strings, and he could pull those strings apart to create a tear, but if he layered and wove the strings bordering this tear, it would strengthen it.
He felt a wave of clarity flow through him and knew he had succeeded. He opened his eyes and read the messages with glee.
[Insight(s) gained: Tear, Weave.]
[Concept gained: Tear, Weave -> Fabric]
Fabric: +25 Intelligence, +20 Wisdom, +15 Dexterity. +5% Intelligence
His eyes widened in surprise, as he couldn’t understand how he immediately gained another Concept. Something felt off, as it all came far too quickly, but he refused to look a gift horse in the mouth. He would make full use of any advantage he had, as his life and the life of those he cared about would be on the line.
That line of thought made him think about his family, and he felt a surge of fear as he considered if they had survived.
His mother was a kind soul, and the thought of her being forced to fight in the Trial Corridor filled him with dread. She would struggle on the path of conflict.
His father was a retired military man, so he would do better, but some old injuries would still make it hard for him.
His older brother was athletic and did kickboxing, so he had a decent chance to survive the combat rooms, even if he didn’t get a weapon.
His younger sister was only 13, and he desperately hoped she hadn’t been forced into combat. He had noticed that only adults had been transported to this Tutorial, so he had some hope that the younger ones had been spared the worst of it.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts.
I just have to make it out of this Tutorial, get strong, and find them. We’ll figure out what to do from there.
He spent some time purging his negative emotions from his mind before he rose to his feet.
The sun had set a while ago, and he decided to sleep.
***
Mark woke up and allocated his stat points after a short consideration. He put them all into Intelligence, as he now had the means to deal damage using magic. He looked at his status and grinned at his progress.
Name: Mark Johnson
Race: Human(G)
Level: 9
Stats:
Strength: 35
Dexterity: 78
Endurance: 72
Intelligence: 149
Wisdom: 85
Free Points: 0
Truths:
* Space
* Void: +15 Dexterity, +25 Endurance, +20 Intelligence. +5% Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence.
* Movement
* Distance
* Fabric: +25 Intelligence, +20 Wisdom, +15 Dexterity. +5% Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity
* Tear
* Weave
Skills:
Mana Shaping
Blink
He wanted to rush back to cultivate but also felt he needed some answers. So far, the System had been stingy with information, but maybe that large building in the square had some answers.
He made his way to the main square, but he noticed a stall before he went to the largest building. A delicious smell wafted from it, and Mark noticed how hungry he was. It was strange how he hadn’t noticed before, but he figured it was due to his stats.
People were standing in line, and Mark joined them.
He noticed the ones closest to him flinch as he approached, and they blanched when they looked at him.
He opened his mouth and was about to ask what was going on, but they ran away. Most of them were trembling, which left Mark stumped. He stood there, looking around, confused for a second, before the stall vendor spoke up.
“You buying? Or are you just gonna stand there gawping?”
The vendor was a rough-looking human with a gravelly voice, and he looked pissed at the lost business.
“Right, sorry!” Mark responded and approached. “What was that all about, though?”
“Not for me to say, champ,” the man responded.
“Is there a place I might get answers?”
“Town Hall… Now, are you buying or not?”
Mark looked down at the stall, seeing bowls filled with some form of stew. He bought a bowl that cost him 50 credits and sat on a bench.
The stew tasted great and was surprisingly filling. It was empty far too soon, but he restrained himself from buying another one and headed for the Town Hall.
Inside, he discovered a large entry hall with several desks. A group of people stood by the desks, arguing loudly.
“-out! You can’t do this to us!”
“-Almost died! How is this fair?”
“Please, please! Just let me go. I don’t want to do this!”
None of them got any response from the elves who operated the desk, as they looked like they’d been answering these questions all day.
One man turned to leave, huffing deeply and moved to leave, but he froze when he spotted Mark. His face turned pale, and his eyes grew wide, but he ran away when Mark moved from the entryway.
Mark looked after him, confused.
What the fuck is going on?
Shaking his head, he moved to the now empty desk. The other people spotted him and grew silent as well, but he ignored them.
“Hello, how may I assist you?” asked the elf before him. He had similar features as the elf who spoke in the square, except he was slightly taller and bulkier.
“Well, first off,” Mark started and pointed to the others. “Can you explain their reaction?”
“Ah, yes. You have progressed sufficiently in your cultivation and gained enough stats to emanate an aura. Those who aren’t capable of emitting their own will be strongly affected. If you focus and restrict the amount of energy that leaves your body, you should be able to restrain it. It’s not hard.”
Mark did as the elf said and found it was easy. He felt slightly bloated, in a strange way, like he was too full, but he noticed the other humans breathing out in relief.
“Alright, uhm… Is there a way to have a private conversation?”