A small group of people were silently watching Mathew. Several whispered bets were being argued over as they decided if he will blow something up, or finally succeed on whatever their magical leader has been focused on doing for over a week.

“Hundred credits says he loses a finger.”

“He hasn’t lost one yet, what makes it different this time?”

“It’s that look in his eyes, either he is at a breaking point or gone mad. I’m betting on the latter and will try too hard and blow himself up. How do you think he lost one already?”

“I’ll do 200, but I think he will get it. I see the same look. It’s similar to that one at the end of the questions we had two weeks ago. When someone attacked his flying pig.”

“Aye, I’ll match you on that.”

“Same.”

“Ditto.”

“A thousand, but he succeeds at something he didn’t plan on doing. Classic anime trope.”

A few heads turned toward a small man while one woman punched him upside the head. “We told you to stop with the anime references Joey!” Snickers and hushed laughter rippled through the small crowd to not disturb Mathew.

Mathew barley noticed it, even with his enhanced senses due to his stats and rank improvements. He was heavily focused. This was as close as he has yet been when it came to accomplishing his goal. An entire week of devoted focus and study to mana to figure out how to control it better. He had nothing to show yet, but today will be different, he told himself.

Agnox was no help, surprise surprise. Mana control was always an ability or skill, but Mathew refused to just let The System give it to him for free like that. He wanted to do it himself. He had the highest Intelligence and possibly Wisdom in his town to his knowledge. Leo or Dr. Garcia might surpass him in Wisdom, but he didn’t mind.

During his studies, he really started to learn more about The System, magic, the Universe as a whole society that it was. Spending more money at Di and pestering Agnox with more questions. So much so, the Imp had to implement a rule between the two of them. For every question Mathew asked related to The System or magic, Agnox got to ask a question about Mathew.

It went well at first, just a few questions about Earth, and some other mildly invasive ones. Yet, Mathew pused his luck and Agnox asked Mathew a stone wall of a question. “What’s your Intelligence stat?”

At first, Mathew didn’t want to answer, but after a moment did so. He realized the number didn’t matter in the end. Since Agnox was his familiar, and could do little with the information. However the implications Agnox would ask such personal questions made him start to try and figure things out on his own.

It also stung when an answer still counted even if Agnox said “I don’t know the answer.” A technical answer, and Mathew knew it counted in their little agreement. Oh, Mathew absolutely made it a contract, he was semi-desperate for information. It was a requirement from Agnox. Mathew didn’t mind, and it doubled as helping him further understand how contracts even worked.

Then a day later he realized contract making wasn’t a skill, yet he could do it. It was related to his profession, but it still used mana right? Or did it use mana from The Council? Did it use mana at all? Did it even use magic? That spiralling question train almost drove Mathew down another rabbit hole. The only thing bringing him back was him trying to learn about mana.

Mathew repositioned himself as he had many times at this point. Legs crossed, hands flat on the ground, mind empty. He steadied himself and started the process once again. He focused on where the mana came from, a section in his lower torso, slightly to the right of his bellybutton. Mana technically was all around and inside of him, but that is where the majority of it must be stored.

He controlled the mana carefully, feeling it snake up through his arms. They were narrow, like veins. Every time he made it this far, they seemed to not follow any sort of path. He would have noticed a path at this point if they did. He was sure of it.

The mana reached his hands, the part that always messed up. He gritted his teeth preparing for the new next step. Previously, he would try to push the mana out through his hands somehow. Everytime he would either end up casting a spell, or almost blow up his hand. He was thankful for Dr. Garcia, and her amazing healing abilities. A real treasure she is.

However, Mathew decided to try something new today. He was going to use his Axiom. He had dabbled with it once or twice, finding no new use for it. Nobody had any mental attacks, or if they did, refused to admit it. Yet, Mathew was convinced it could be used here. [Resistance] as a word has several meanings.

One that Mathew resonated the most with was to refuse the acceptance of something different. There was also the means of stopping an opposing force, preventing something from happening, and of course to try and stop a fight against someone or something.

Here he was trying to use it as a defensive measure. To shield himself from what was about to happen. To resist the damage. He had tried to do research on Axioms, but there is little record of the limits and capabilities of what they can do. Since, Axioms apparently have no limits. Something Mathew found hard to believe.

Here, Mathew was going to put that theory to the test. As the mana just started to build, Mathew focused and pulled at that power tucked away in his mind. It felt like cold steel flowed down his body and around his arms. It floated just below his skin, and it was an odd feeling, but he didn’t focus on it right now.

Right now, he focused on imagining mana simply flowing out of his hands as he always had, but further pushed that image. He had been imagining the mana flow like a river, here he was trying to find, or perhaps make a tunnel for that river to continue flowing out of him. He noticed the mana wasn’t doing anything, and almost formed into his normal bolt shaped spell but was able to pull back at the last moment.

Normally this caused enough pain for him to lose concentration and flush the mana out via a spell. Yet, his Axiom was doing it’s job of protecting him. He would celebrate this later and brought his attention back to the mana and his hands.

If mana was a river, and he needed a tunnel, what were his hands? His body? Walls? A dam? A moutain? Wait, a dam. Dam’s could open and close to change how fast water moved through them, could he do that?

Mathew clenched his hands momentarily, digging the tips into the ground. He no longer purely focused on the mana, but also focused on where he wanted it to go, how he wanted it to act. A man made a channel for the mana to flow through. That’s what he imagined. All ten finger tips have a small channel for the mana to flow through as needed.

Sharp needle-like pain was felt across his fingers, but he didn’t give into the pain. Instead he pushed his Axiom to resist that pain. To his surprise he saw movement in the mana, a small trinkle at first. He almost latched onto that sight and pushed the mana forward, but held himself.

Patience was key here. He would need to erode away the proper size carefully. Build the tunnel for his mana correctly, an intuition told him doing this fast and rapid was not the way to go. He stopped pulling more mana from himself, and let the mana he already built up flow away slowly.

He realized how he was doing things wrong before. He was pushing mana through his body all at once. Like lighting all your fireworks at once and the show ending in just a few moments. He needed to conserve his energy and do things safely.

Several minutes passed before no more mana was in Mathew’s arms. He held the position a little longer. Pondering upon what he did. Taking the steps backwards, mentally marking each action. His Axiom was useful for the entire process, and he was a fool for not realizing sooner. He only thought it could be used for a singular action, but instead could be used for more things. Just how limited was he holding himself? What about others?

Mathew sat back up and opened his eyes. He then swiftly glared toward the crowd. “You all have two choices, either I get a cut or you don’t get an answer.”

“Deal!” Several shouts yelled at once. A couple boo’s echoed but were quickly hushed. Everyone wanted to know what Mathew did. So much so people were mimicking his movements, but nobody seemed to really know what it was. Just that it had to be related to magic.

Mathew stood up and chuckled. “I succeeded at what I was doing, once I figured it out more I’ll share more details.” He looked down at his hands, and saw there were no external markings of what he did to them.

The crowd erupted into several hoots and hollars mixed with disappointed groans. Mathew walked away with a small increase to his own personal profits. He was hurting for money recently. The lowest he’s been since killing the horned wolf.

Mathew jumped into his cart and headed off to the Hearth Crystal. There was something he wanted to check. He essentially did a very small Mana Cycle. He put mana from himself back into the environment. If he had to guess, it was less mana than he ever used on a [Mana Bolt]. Yet, it was a start. A first step.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Reaching the plaza, he walked up to the crystal and placed a hand on it, noting the results.

Level 20 Class Choices

New Ability: Conjure Weapon

New Ability: Mana Channel

New Ability: Mana Cycle

New Ability: Mana Skin

Channel and Cycle. So [Mana Cycle] was a skill, but it’s also something someone can do without a System given technique. Why was The System only giving him two at first? Did he not meet the requirements? Or did he skip a step? Mana Cycle was tackled about as an easy enough action to do. Something he could have never done without researching, and his Axiom. How did people typically do it? What did he lack that others don’t?

The obvious answer was a teacher. Less obvious was a proper learning environment. Having a crowd of people watching his every move was a bit unsettling to the mind. Yet, he almost enjoyed the feeling. Of being oo’d and ahh’d at. He was no attention seeker, but he won’t say no to a few people seeing him as a hero or a fearless knight in shining armor. Even though that’s more Zack’s style.

Mathew already had his mind set on what ability to pick. Zack and Lindsey were both helpful on breaking down what an ability did, and could become. Technique Evolution was what they called it. Agnox said it was stupid, and to not call it that. Sadly for the imp, he was outvoted.

It was obvious any Ability, Skill, or Spell with a rank could and would acquire new traits. Take for example Mathew’s Wisp summon. He can now summon two. Could he summon four next time? What about an upgrade to just straight up make them stronger? A second element? Yet, they all agreed there would be no upgrade to let them wear armor or carry a sword.

So when looking at new techniques to choose from The System, there are things to consider. Firstly, how easy would it be to learn on your own. Second, what sort of upgrades or evolutions do you think it can aquire. Lastly, and just as importantly, what can it do for you now. If it can’t help you stay alive till tomorrow, what point does it have?

That’s why Mathew already made his choice and selected [Conjure Weapon]. The three mana skills all sounded like something he could learn on his own, or gain similar outputs through other means. Being able to conjure a weapon to him? That’s something he can’t replicate at all.

Conjure Weapon | Novice 1

Mark any weapon. You can conjure it to your hand at will so long as it is within range. Marking a second weapon will remove the mark on the first weapon.

Mathew nodded at the ability. It was exactly what he and Zack assumed it did. Mathew had yet to have a problem retrieving a weapon in combat, but who knew what the future held in store for him. There was an added bonus of how it was an apparent Class specific ability.

Of course, Mathew knew how he was going to apply this ability. He was going to take inspiration from the day he encountered his class choices. The Shadow Assassin class resonated deeply with this ability.

Throwing his knife, then summoning it back to his hand? That not only sounded badass, but added a layer to his fighting style. His knife caused heavy bleeding. Add that to his already high magical damage, and he was slowly becoming what Zack called a Glass Cannon. High damage, low defensive traits. Yet, Mathew had a cover for that with Jeffrey, his leather robed armor, and stats.

Mathew left the area, giving friendly nods and smiles once again to the guards. He headed to his office. He accomplished what he wanted today. Time to accomplish yet another goal of his.

He now had four Novice level techniques. It was time to bring those up to the next level, gain two more abilities, and finally reach level 25. It will be an uphill climb, but he had faith in himself. He was solidly sound combative wise, he needed to support that side with his other powers. Starting with his Rituals.

Mathew walked into his office and put down his bag. He pulled out all the supplies he would need for the identification ritual. He was ready. His study of mana also included it’s applications including spells and rituals. Rituals, it turned out, were very simple spells. Mathew already knew this, but not to the drastic level of how simple they were.

Di had to explain it to him to best help him, and save Di from Mathew’s angered complaints of faulty information. “Rituals to spells are like a camp fire to a star in complexity. Rituals do exactly as they are meant to. No more, no less. They are also trash level spells. Nobody does rituals except to learn how to enchant and become a crafter.”

That made Mathew feel slightly better. If Rituals were the basic line, then what could they become in later ranks? What kind of magic could Mathew really start to perform when he was Level 100? Level 1000? What sort of Rituals could Drookora or the King she was bound to do?

Gaia said she and Mathew were similar. That made him both excited and worried. He was excited, because she was a benchmark for him now. To surpass Doozkora, would be like surpassing his brothers. Someone who was always looked at like a prodigy child. Crushing them, and providing for once that he was the one who was truly the prodigy.

On the other hand, he could simply end up like her. Falling down the same pitfalls. Mathew really wished he could pester Gaia for more answers.

That was then, and this was now. He had to focus on surviving Phase 1 and 2. Starting with creating a perfect ritual. Mathew pulled out his calligraphy supplies and naturally activated his [Writing] skill. Using it to draw the Ritual was a genius idea he had. It counted as writing, and he was able to not only create a ritual faster, but better focus on what he was doing.

Mathew placed each piece of the ritual in the proper place, ending with the Mana core and piece of fruit. He didn’t feel up to further learning about mana right now. He had enough to reflect on as he was.

The ritual started and ended relatively quickly, only taking ten minutes. After which a blue screen popped up infront of Mathew.

Star Fruit

Unranked

Gives +5 to three stats. Each additional fruit gives dimensihing results.

“Well that was almost useless.” Mathew mumbled to himself. He silently noted another increase to his skill. He was at first, insulted at such little information, but then what if he didn’t use it and the fruit did something he couldn’t find by checking his stats?

He also was glad he learned the fruit was essentially only good the first to eat it. With having just over half a dozen, he would have eaten them all himself. Now, that was wasteful. An idea popped into his head. He firstly sat five aside for his idea. Leaving only three left. One was for him, and the last two for two people he had in mind. Firstly was Mr. Melton. Mathew needed to ensure a good stable relationship with that man. Not only did he save his hide, but he needed to have a solid trust that he won’t stab Mathew in the back.

If Mathew kept providing good and unique items like this, Mr. Melton would want to remain under his good graces. The second was for an experiment. Mathew pushed his mana into a spell and summoned his trusty familiar.

“Heya boss. What’s up? Thought you be busy playing with mana all day. It’s weird watching from the inside, watching your mana act all funky.”

“You remember those fruits we got over a week ago? I found out what they do.”

“Oh? About time! What is it? What kind of insane buff did you get from eating them all?”

Mathew rolled his eyes and held one out for him. “Here, eat it and check your stats.”

“Wait, you are giving this to me?”

Mathew nodded, “Sure, you helped get them didn’t you?”

Agnox only hesitated for a moment, but Mathew saw the truth in the imps black eyes. “Sucker, damn right I helped! I was bait after all. How else would we have tricked the bird into bringing me to their nest.”

Mathew kept his smile down, and watched Agnox finish the fruit in three bites. He started to eat his own, watching his own Intelligence, Wisdom, and Dexterity increase by five each. “Oh this is good stuff. Almost as good as that cook lady by The Workshop. I’ll tell ya she- FIFTEEN STAT POINTS!”

“Ah, he finally noticed.” Mathew put his bag back on and walked out the door. “Come on, you can grovel and thank me for my benevolence as we walk. We have a couple of people to see.”