Jonathan read, and reread the quest. As shown by its name, it indeed seemed impossible. Still, it was his only source of hope, and as he read it, a fierce conviction arose within him. He had a purpose now, and he would fulfill it if it was the last thing he would do.

He closed the quest and took a deep breath before taking stock of his surroundings. He was in the middle of what looked to be some sort of temple, with a large altar at the end of the halfway. Most of it was in ruins, with rubble littering the floor, but a large portion of it was still intact, mainly the wall area. Jonathan idly wondered whether it had always been like this, or whether there had once been a civilization there. Judging by the nature of the Hells, the former was more likely. He knew almost nothing about the world that he had been summoned into, a problem that he wanted to rectify. Unfortunately, there was no apparent way to do so. Instead, he would have to blindly follow his quest.

There were no other monsters nearby, and Jonathan decided to take the opportunity to study the ways in which his body had been changed. He picked up a rock from the ground nearby, and marveled at how light it felt. Throwing it with his full power, it slammed into the wall, chipping it. The rock itself shattered into a dozen pieces. More importantly however was the thing that he had no opportunity to test as of yet. Mana. It was there on his stat sheet, and he knew what it was probably for, the casting of magic, but he did not have any spells, nor the knowledge of how to use them.

However, there was something within him that was new. A tiny ball of glowing blue energy hovered in the center of his body, and he found that if he split his focus between it and the outside world, he could keep track of both at the same time. Moving his mind's eye closer to the core, he saw that it was built like a miniature sun, with whorls and loops of power dancing across its surface. However, the actual orb itself was perfectly smooth. Within it was a portion of a viscous gas that he assumed was his mana. Jonathan idly reached out and touched the sphere. A tiny bit of the mana concentrated around where his fingers had made contact, and he felt a brief moment of connection to it. Using that moment of connection, he seized the mana in his hand and tried to force it into the outside world. Jonathan let out a yelp as his hand reddened. However, a tiny flame appeared above it, colored a bright blue. The only problem was that it was hurting him at the same time. Jonathan banished the flame, and was met with a notification.

You have gained a Pathway Skill!

Mana Manipulation:Novice 1

Mana Manipulation is one of the most basic skills in the universe, and you have shown a strange aptitude for it. This skill influences your ease of manipulating the mana within your body, and gives bonuses as you progress, like all Pathway Skills.

Jonathan frowned as he read the message.

“Pathway skill? The hell is that?” He said out loud. In response, another message appeared in front of him.

Pathway skills are skills that are too broad in scope to be contained within one singular aspect. Instead, you master aspects of it, gaining greater power and experience as you progress through the ranks. The ranks are as follows; Novice, Student, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, Master, Grandmaster, Sage, Saint, Avatar, Incarnate, Primarch and Divinity. These ranks are based on the amount of knowledge that you hold based on the skill, with Novice having a tiny fraction, and Divinity having everything. Each rank will give an increasingly larger stat bonus.

It was structured like an apprenticeship system back on Earth. During the medieval times, Jonathan knew that the ranks were similar to that, and he wondered why it was so closely related. Of course, based on his experiences with the runic language’s translation, everything was simply being translated into something that he would understand. In any case, power was power, and knowledge was knowledge.

Jonathan peeked out of the building, and noting that there were no monsters in sight, went back to mana manipulation. It seemed like a vital skill for his survival, and he wanted to gain those stat bonuses that had been mentioned. About an hour later, Jonathan only had a blistered hand to show for his efforts. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He had increased the size of the flame, but seeing as his tests of it had shown that its heat was not enough to actually burn anything except for him, it was useless.

He sighed, and banished the flame for the last time, nursing his burnt hand. He had discovered that he had a slightly increased healing rate, and he knew that he was powerful enough for the damage to not be an issue, except in terms of pain. Pain he could deal with. A bit annoyed, Jonathan returned to his core, and repeated the process one more time, trying to see what he was doing wrong. As he saw the mana move, he had an epiphany. All he was doing was summoning the mana to the outside world. He wasn't actually controlling it. This time, he held a clear image of a contained ball of power in his mind as he summoned the energy to the real world. This time, there was no burning sensation, only a ball of energy hovering over his palm. His interface chimed, and he saw that he had ranked up.

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Mana Manipulation has reached Novice 2!

He immediately felt a tiny increase in his ability to use his mana, and he seized control of the orb with his mind, struck by a sudden insight. Compressing it with his willpower, he watched as the ball shrunk down to about a quarter of its size. Jonathan held it to the floor, and watched in satisfaction as a small amount of stone melted. It was a long way from a weapon, but it was a start. He rose to his feet, and left the ruin, entering the ash heaps once more. There was nothing left for him there, and he needed to find a way towards Granath, wherever he, or she, was.

Some time later, another one of the Ash Prowlers appeared on the horizon, and this time Jonathan started making a beeline towards it. He was hungry to test out his new stats, especially with his bonus from his title. In addition, he had an idea about what to do with the extra stat points that he gained from leveling. The way that his stat multiplier worked was based on quantity, and the more points that he put into a stat at once, the greater the impact. Of course, he could not afford to do such a thing for too long, especially in a place like this, but he could hold out another level at least. As he loped towards the wolf, he opened his stat sheet again.

Jonathan Harlowe

Tier 1

Human(Basic)

Outsider:Tier 1

Level 5

(9 free points)

Strength

36

Dexterity

30

Constitution

29

Resilience

29

Intelligence

26

Wisdom

24

Divinity

1

Health:290/290

Stamina:360/360

Mana:260/260

* Titles

Chosen of Sarnakthros:Unique

Nascent Divinity:Celestial

Underdog:Rare

* Skills

Smite:Legendary

Identify:Common

* Pathway Skills

Mana Manipulation:Novice 2

* Quests

Hellbreaker:Impossible

Jonathan had seen some huge increases, with his stats having almost doubled from before, and in the case of Strength and Dexterity, actually doubling. No wonder he felt like he was on top of the world. He had a sneaking suspicion that most people in the universe did not have such a rapid growth rate as himself, although most of them were not in Hell either. Those two things kind of balanced each other out.

The Prowler was almost upon him, and Jonathan balled his fists, ready to fight. The battle began with a snap of the monster’s jaws, directed at his left foot. The creature was trying to hamstring him, but Jonathan was too fast for it. He snapped out his right foot, and caught the monster under the chin, stunning it. With his other foot, he punted the monster off its feet, staggering it. Rushing forwards, he began to lay into it with his hands and feet, battering the creature into submission. He might have felt some sympathy for the creature before, but his new world view, as well as the appearance of the monster, had removed all empathy for it. It was merely something to be killed.

He was too powerful for it to deal with now, and as it lay there, dying, he decided to finish it off with his new skill. Perhaps that would further his understanding a bit. Summoning the ball of concentrated energy to his hand, Jonathan thrust it into the monster’s head. Flesh bubbled and melted around it, and it boiled the creature's brain, killing it utterly. It was a gruesome way to die, and not a very efficient one either, seeing as he had to maintain contact for upwards of a half minute to kill it completely. However, he felt as if his ranking had gone up a little bit, so it had been worth it in the end. He withdrew from the creature’s steaming corpse, and resumed his trek towards an unknown destination. If he just kept walking, eventually he would have to find something.