Chapter 18

Keith awoke to the sound of someone knocking on the front door, and it was so loud he almost thought they were trying to break in. Feeling groggy, Keith glanced at the time and realized it was already past noon. He was so exhausted from his fight with Orcus that he had slept over 18 hours.

As if noticing Keith had woken up, the banging grew more intense.

“Hang on,” Keith groaned. He staggered out of bed and habitually checked his magic tablet for any messages. There were over a dozen, all from one person.

Ska’dur: Nephew, I need some advice on how to unlock Mana Manipulation. Are you available? Don’t worry – I’ll give you valuable information in exchange.

Ska’dur: Hey, you there?

Ska’dur: Hey?

Ska’dur: Hey.

Ska’dur: Hey.

…

Ska’dur: I’m coming to you.

Keith was baffled. So it turned out Ska’dur was at the door, but why was he so naggy? Keith stretched before making his way downstairs. He opened the front door and greeted Ska’dur, who towered over him, “Hello, Uncle Ska’dur.”

“Hm?” Ska’dur’s instincts informed him that Keith had become much stronger than the last time he saw him, more than he expected. Sighing to himself, he recalled his youth when different tribes raged war against one another and felt that things never changed.

Ska’dur observed how tired Keith was and, flashing a smile, asked, “Hungry?”

Keith rubbed his eyes with a nod.

“Let me cook you something,” Ska’dur responded and brushed past Keith, making his way to the kitchen. He opened a few cabinets and, finding them empty, glanced back. “Where’s your pans?”

“Oh, I haven’t bought any yet,” Keith answered with some embarrassment.

“Salt? Butter?”

“None,” Keith shrunk his neck and continued, “I order take-out…”

Ska’dur shook his head and withdrew several items from his inventory. “Well, good thing I’m always ready to make a hearty meal.”

Still sleepy, Keith sat down at the table and watched Ska’dur cook. Soon enough, an enticing aroma spread from the kitchen, making Keith’s stomach growl in anticipation.

Weirdly, the hulking man occasionally glanced at Keith out of the corner of his eye as he cooked. Keith raised an eyebrow, finding Ska’dur’s behavior similar to someone wanting to ask their crush out on a date yet couldn’t find the courage.

He recalled Ska’dur’s message and asked, “What did you need help with?”

Ska’dur shuddered at Keith’s question. “Eat first.”

Sure enough, Keith thought. Who knew Ska’dur would be so shy when asking someone for assistance? Keith almost started laughing. Wait. Was Ska’dur cooking him a delicious meal to butter him up before he asked for help? Was this a bribe? Well, it wasn’t like he could refuse.

A few minutes later, Keith stared down at the super-sized omelet, hashbrowns, sausage, toast, and cup of coffee. The omelet alone was almost as big as his head. While Keith was hesitating, his stomach growled as if asking, ‘What are you waiting for?’.

Unable to hold back, Keith grabbed his fork and dug in.

Ska’dur sat down across from Keith, and as Keith ate, he occasionally glanced in Keith’s direction, twirling his beard and shifting uncomfortably from time to time.

Slimeballs.

It wouldn't be so awkward if he had to ask Markus or one of his peers for help, though asking someone hundreds of years younger than him was another thing altogether. Where would his reputation go if word got out?

Meanwhile, as Keith ate, he started getting second-hand embarrassment. He never lifted his head the entire time; instead, he focused on stuffing the enormous omelet down his throat. After what felt like ages, he finished the sausage and was surprised he had eaten everything. It was just too delicious.

Keith finally looked over at Ska’dur and said, “Thank you.”

Ska’dur waved his hand. “Don’t mention it.”

“So, about your message?” Keith asked.

Ska’dur avoided eye contact and explained, “Ah, well, how do I put it? I’m having trouble unlocking Mana Manipulation, and I heard you were the first to acquire it. I was hoping you would have a tip or two to share.”

Keith thought about it. “You know how you can sense your spells from a distance? Your mana is the same, except it’s inside you. You need to build a connection to it with your mind – a mental muscle of sorts. It’s like learning how to move your ear or eyebrow.”

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Ska’dur sighed. “Other people have mentioned similar things before. Although I understand the principle, I can’t seem to make it a reality.”

While Ska’dur felt disappointed, Keith suddenly remembered something and shared, “When I reached the level 500 skill threshold, I hit a bottleneck. Around then, I learned that your mental state heavily affects your connection with mana.”

“Your mental state?” Ska’dur’s eyes lit up.

“Yes,” Keith nodded. “When I cleared my mind of emotions and entered a meditative state, I could control mana as easily as moving my fingers.”

Ska’dur stood up excitedly, “I’ll try it now.”

Moving over to an open area, Ska’dur sat cross-legged and instantly calmed down, reaching a state of zen in seconds. Time passed with no movement from Ska’dur, so Keith started browsing the magic network.

When an hour went by, Ska’dur opened his eyes and frowned bitterly, “It didn’t work. Nothing changed.”

Keith saw Ska’dur’s disappointment and started brainstorming for ideas. He mused, “Maybe you need a different mindset. It could be a personality thing.”

“Oh? If it’s me, then…” Ska’dur closed his eyes once again.

Keith was about to return his attention to the magic tablet when Ska’dur started trembling. His veins popped out, his jaw clenched tight, and his skin flushed red. Abruptly, mana exuded from Ska’dur’s body. Keith was astonished. He succeeded?

“Hahaha!” Ska’dur stood to his feet, and his eyes shot open, revealing they were bloodshot. Slowly, he returned to normal, yet mana continued to coil around him.

Ska’dur looked at his hand. “What a strange feeling. It’s similar to life energy and different at the same time.”

Keith smiled happily, saying, “Feel inside your chest. See anything?”

Ska’dur did as Keith suggested and was amazed. “Are these my skills?”

“Yes,” Keith affirmed.

“There are so many new runes I don’t know,” Ska’dur gasped, knowing what this meant for the array industry.

“It’s incredible, isn’t it?” Keith said emotionally. “If we can deduce the meaning of even a fraction of the runes hidden within skill arrays, who knows what we could do?”

Standing tall, Ska’dur focused and shakily withdrew his mana into his body, like returning a sword to its sheath. With a wide smile, he approached Keith and clapped the young man on his shoulder. “Thank you.”

“Sure,” Keith grimaced.

Ska’dur caressed his beard, starting, “I said earlier that I’d exchange information with you. I’ve never told anyone else, and I hope you don’t spread what I’m about to share with you. It’s related to my legacy.”

Keith felt the atmosphere grow heavy. “I promise.”

“How should I explain?” Ska’dur crossed his arms and tilted his head. “It’s like the skill arrays inside my chest. Just a moment ago, I would have never known that skills had a source. I bet you were the same.”

“Yeah,” Keith agreed, wondering where Ska’dur was going with this.

Ska’dur’s gaze grew vacant. “Many years ago, when studying arrays, I had a question: where did our stats draw power from? Was it something physical? Something intangible? I couldn’t find the answer.”

Keith’s pupils dilated. He had never thought about this before.

“It took me decades before I made a breakthrough,” Ska’dur revealed.

Keith watched as Ska’dur raised a palm covered by golden flame-like energy. It was beautiful, vibrant, and full of vigor, similar to an overgrown forest.

“Life energy,” Ska’dur explained. “Formed by combining the sources of five stats.”

“Where did you find the sources?” Keith locked onto the key point.

Ska’dur shrugged. “They exist within your body. Within every drop of blood, within every fiber of muscle. It’s all over, ever-present. I came to sense them from an epiphany. I don’t have a method to teach you.”

“And how did you combine them into that?” Keith pointed at the golden flame.

Ska’dur froze. “Well, I suppose the System did with the skill creation function. I tried combining them myself and could never find the right balance.”

“Are you teasing me?” Keith’s expression dropped. Although Ska’dur revealed a powerful new type of energy, he didn’t know how to find or combine it. In that case, Keith would rather remain unaware of its existence!

“No,” Ska’dur coughed. “My intention wasn’t to teach you my legacy skill.”

“Oh,” Keith’s mood soured.

Ska’dur hastily explained, “I wanted you to recognize that stats, something everyone takes for granted, have a much greater depth. A depth so great that I used them to create a transcendent grade skill. And if something as simple as stats could do that, who knows what else we’re missing?”

The room fell silent, and when Ska’dur saw Keith seriously contemplating the meaning behind his words, he felt gratified. Growing solemn, he asked, “Keith, do you know my greatest fear?”

“What?” Keith was intrigued.

Ska’dur stared into the young man’s eyes. “I fear we rely too much on the System. For example, even though everybody uses skills, hardly anyone cares about learning how they function. Or consider my innate gift. I simply have no idea how it works. It’s so complex that it boggles my mind. And it bothers me. It bothers me greatly that I use a skill I cannot begin to comprehend.”

“What’s wrong with relying on the System? It gives us the means to grow stronger, so it has to be benevolent towards us,” Keith countered.

Ska’dur shook his head. “The System has already given us a hint. What happens when a skill reaches level 500?”

“Repetition no longer levels it up, and you need to start figuring out how…” Keith’s voice trailed off when he realized what Ska’dur was alluding to.

“When I was your age,” Ska’dur recalled, “kids played with a particular toy. It was a hollow doll, hiding another doll inside. And in that doll was another doll. For years, I and everyone else thought the Innate Dimension was the whole world, and then I learned about the Grandsky Realm. Have you ever considered what’ll happen when someone combines all four Dimension Cores? Will it reveal another doll?”

Keith shuddered at the implications, excited by the prospect.

Ska’dur chuckled. “Of course, though I’m only speculating, what if? What if there’s a path beyond level 1,000, and the System takes another crutch away from us? Like removing the interface or the inspect skill?”

Ska’dur paused for a moment. “I’ve looked at some data collected by the government, and people in general struggle with leveling skills past 500. They’ve grown too complacent with relying on the System, and their reliance has become a crutch that holds them back.”

When Ska’dur finished, Keith felt the mana and skill arrays inside him, muttering, “Only power you understand is power you control.”

Ska’dur’s expression lit up, and he slapped Keith on the shoulder, roaring with laughter, “Hahaha, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Only power you understand is power you control! What a great phrase!”

Keith rubbed his shoulder to alleviate the pain and looked up at Ska’dur, saying, “I didn’t know you were so insightful.”

Ska’dur grinned. “The Innate Dimension imprisoned me for five hundred years. Five hundred long years. Besides leveling skills, it left me a lot of time to think. I’m not all muscle and brawn, you know.”

“Although you do have a lot of muscle,” Keith quibbed.

“True,” Ska’dur chuckled.

After a brief silence, Ska’dur looked at the time and said, “Okay, now that I acquired Mana Manipulation, I’ll enter a time-accelerated Pocket Dimension and level it up. I don’t have time to waste.”

A moment later, Ska’dur left, and Keith wondered if he should head to Mandara Desert to hunt monsters when a beep came from his magic tablet. Walking over, he opened his messages.

Frisk: I want to show you something.

I’m popular today, Keith thought as he walked out the door.