[Mana Manipulation] turned out to be much easier to learn than I thought it would be. The book had said that learning Mana Sense was usually the hardest part of becoming a mage, but [Mana Manipulation] still usually took a few weeks to learn. I assumed that, being myself, I would be able to shorten that to a few days, but I hadn’t expected to learn it in just a single night. The ability to manipulate mana was tied to [Int] and [Wil] though, so I guess it made sense.
I couldn’t do much with it yet. I couldn’t even do anything visible. The only reason I knew that anything was changing was that I could feel it with [Mana Sense]. The book had listed a few simple, unattributed spells that I could easily learn with basic [Mana Manipulation], but I decided to save practicing those for the night, and used the daylight to read the history book. I returned to the cafe I had sat at the previous day, ordered another tea, and began my reading.
While I read, I also tried to keep an eye and an ear on what was happening around me. I overheard a few interesting tidbits of conversation and leveled up [Enhanced Senses] twice for my efforts. I got up twice to walk around for an hour or so to hopefully avoid rousing the cafe owner’s suspicions by not eating.
The book was large, and the print was small, so it took me the better part of the day to finish it. It was well-written and interesting though, so I had no trouble getting through it. I learned many interesting things about the history of Astraeus, the most interesting of which was the fate of the vampires. According to Anatoly, there had once been a nation of vampires, but they had been completely eradicated by a demon king.
I had gotten the impression from the paladins that not much was known about demon kings, but Anatoly clearly had some knowledge about how they worked, because rather than portraying the demon king as an inhuman monster, he more accurately portrayed him as a human who had gained great power. The demon king was a middle aged man who had once been a father, until his family was killed and sucked dry by a vampire. When he gained the power of a demon king, he went on a crusade against the vampires, and though he was eventually killed, the vampires had been reduced to a fraction of a percentage of their former numbers, and their numbers continued to dwindle until the last of them, to Anatoly’s knowledge, died out 200 years later.
Though I didn’t know too much about the other Sins, or what they were really like, I thought that sounded like it could have been a demon king in service to Wrath. The book had records of a few other demon kings as well. None of them were very detailed, since the book covered over 4000 years of history, but I was able to label each one of them with a fitting Sin, which made me think that it might have been only the Seven Deadly Sins who created demon kings.
That night, rather than returning to the inn, I left the city shortly before sundown when the gates would close, and I went back down the road to Satie a couple miles before turning off into the forest. Once I thought I was a safe distance from the road, I began practicing the spells that the book told of.
The first was [Magic missile]. To unlock the skill, all I had to do was condense mana and propel it forwards at a high enough speed. It took less than an hour for the blue window to appear.
Skill learned: Magic Missile
Magic Missile lvl 1
Condense mana and fire it, dealing damage to anything it hits
Mana type: Unattributed
[MP] cost: 10-500
The next one I worked on was [Magic Shield]. It was similarly simple. I only needed to condense mana into a flat shape in front of me. It didn’t even need to be a distinct shape. I unlocked it with a vaguely round, blobby shield in just a few minutes of practice.
Magic Shield lvl 1
Condense mana into a shield
Mana type: Unattributed
[MP] cost: 50-500
The third spell listed in Anatoly’s book was [Telekinesis]. This one was more difficult than the other two, as it required much finer control. To use [Telekinesis], I essentially had to condense a thin layer of mana all around the object I wanted to move, which took more concentration. It still only took my an hour though, thanks to my high [Int].
Telekinesis lvl 1
Move objects from a distance using mana
Mana type: Unattributed
[MP] cost: -
I spent the rest of the night working on Magic Missile, and testing its power and limits. At its weakest, it seemed to do as much damage as a solid punch. When I cast it on a tree, there was a low thud, and a slight dent in the wood appeared, but that was all. At full power, using the maximum of 500 [MP] the missile went halfway through the wood, sending splinters flying and leaving a deep hole in the trunk. I tested a few different power levels on the trees around until my [MP] was about half gone, and I had gained 3 levels in the skill before moving onto my other objectives for entering the forest.
Now that I had [Inventory], I could stockpile blood for later, so I began searching for goblins to drain. In the end, I didn’t find any, but I did find a pack of wolves. Or rather, they found me. Although I had [Enhanced Senses], they still weren’t as good as a wild animal’s, and I hadn’t exactly been quiet while I blew holes in trees.
There were about two dozen of them, and though they were slightly larger than I remembered wolves being back on Earth, there didn’t seem to be anything particularly special about them. They were still plenty dangerous as is, but since they didn’t appear to have any magical abilities or skills, I held my ground and prepared to fight, rather than flee. They slowly circled me growling, but staying wary. Occasionally, one would creep in towards me, only to leap back the second I swung my blade at them. I wasn’t moving at full speed, or I probably could have cut one or two, but since a group of targets had appeared before my so willingly, I decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to test out [Magic Missile] on another living creature.
I charged up a full power shot and sent it at the largest of the wolves, and the one who seemed to be the leader of the pack. The wolf evidently sensed it, and tried to leap out of the way, but it was not fast enough, and the missile tore through its back just in front of its hind legs, and it collapsed to the floor, whimpering. Immediately, the rest of the pack turned to flee. I hadn’t expected them to be so skittish, and their actions surprised me. I chased after them for a short while, but even with my high [Agi] and [Sprint], they were still faster than me, so I gave up and returned to where I had wounded the alpha.
In the time that I had been gone, he had completely died, and his corpse lay still on the ground while his blood soaked the dirt and leaves below him. I used [Hemokinesis] to drink some of his blood to top off my supply of Life energy, and put the rest in [Inventory], which earned me another level.
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Unfortunately, after that, there weren’t many productive things I could do with my night. The fact that the wolves had been there meant that there was probably nothing else worth hunting nearby, and if I went searching for anything else, I might end up being out all day, as well as all night. It wouldn’t be that bad, but I wanted to go back to Ivanov Books and hopefully get a book on spells. I didn’t know if he would give me anything else for free, but it couldn’t hurt to check. He might let me trade in one of the other books he had given me for it.
Instead, I found the tallest tree in the area and climbed up to the highest branch that would support my weight, and began meditating. It was an activity that was required to learn [Aura Sense], which was necessary for [Aura Control]. In order to have it actually work though, I had to deactivate [Mana Sense], so that I wouldn’t mix the two up. According to the book, mixing up aura and mana was very easy to do, which was part of the reason that most people didn’t learn both. I also deactivated [Imitate Life], so that I would be able to recover my mana more quickly.
I made no noticeable progress in sensing aura that night, but it didn’t bother me. The book said that even the fastest learners took close to 6 months to first sense aura. Of course, I would be much faster than that, but even for me a single night would be too much to hope for.
I returned to the city gates an hour after sunrise, and started heading back towards the bookstore. I was the only one entering the city at that time, but if the guards thought it to be strange, they didn’t say anything. They just gave my temporary Adventurer’s identification a cursory glance and waved me in.
This time, when I entered the ancient elf’s shop, I was not the only customer. There was a group of 3 teenage girls clustered around Anatoly as he showed them a few books on one of the shelves. He nodded at me when he saw me walk in, but continued talking with the girls, who gazed up at him with rapt attention.
I browsed the shop leisurely while I waited for him to finish talking with the other girls. It was actually fortunate that he was occupied at that moment, since I hadn’t been able to look through his collection before. I started on the table where he had grabbed the history book from. The other books on the table were also general history books, though more specific than the one he had given me. There were books on each country that I had read about, and a few I hadn’t, as well as some on specific families and groups.
I picked up a few and idly flipped through them, but soon moved on to the table across from it. That table had books on magical history and the history of the System, and a few biographies of the biggest contributors. Some of the featured titles were The History of Necromancy, and Franz Elemér’s System of System.
The shelf that he had taken the book on gaining skills from was full of other guides and how-to books on every subject I could think of. There was a book on tailoring, a book on being a courier, a book on music, and even a few on making friends and connecting with family members.
I continued to make my way through the store, skimming through each section of books, making my way steadily closer to where the three young girls were still talking with Anatoly. I had already suspected their motives when I first arrived and saw them, but now that I was close enough to read the titles of the books on the shelf they were interested in, it was confirmed. They were standing in front of the romance section.
I half-listened in on their conversation while I tried to read the romance book titles, curious to see what the people of Astraeus were interested in. Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, they did not seem to be much different from the stories I was used to. I saw titles such as The White-Haired Princess, The King’s Younger Brother, The Assassin and the Duke, Rise of the Dragon, The 13th Princess’ Diary, and other things like that.
A minute or so later, Anatoly started to speak a bit louder, so I tuned in to what he was saying.
“Forgive me, ladies, but I fear I have kept my other guest waiting,” said Anatoly, “If you are ready to pay, I can receive it right now, or if not, I hope you don’t mind waiting while I assist my other customer.”
“Of course, we don’t mind waiting at all!” said the middle girl, a little too enthusiastically.
“Thank you. I shall return shortly.”
The second he turned his back to walk towards me, the girls shot me a dirty look.
“Welcome back, Lucy,” he said with a smile. “I apologize for keeping you waiting.”
“I don’t mind,” I replied. “I was having fun reading the titles of those romance books. Did you write those as well?”
“Only a few, and none under my name,” his smile turned slightly mischievous.
“Oh?” I raised my eyebrow. “Which ones?”
“I’d rather not say. Did you finish the books I gave you the other day already?”
“Yes. They were very informative, and exactly what I needed. Thank you.”
“Of course. What are you interested in today?”
“I’m looking for books with some more advanced spells than the ones in the other book. Preferably combat-focused ones.”
“Of course, right this way,” he said, leading me to a table near the center of the shop.
“Do you know what elements you have affinities for?” he asked.
“No. Is there a way to tell?”
“Yes,” he said, picking up a thin book of which there were multiple copies. Its title was A Beginner’s Guide to Magic. “I recommend you read this one for now and use it to figure out your affinities, and then return, and I will recommend some more specific books.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said. “How much for this?”
“5 copper.”
I handed him the coins, thanked him, and then returned to what was becoming my favorite cafe. I still had no idea how good their tea or food was, but its location and ambience were perfect. It was quiet enough that I could enjoy my books in peace, but it was still on the main street, so it wasn’t too far away from anywhere I would need to go.
The book was short, and succinct. It talked about each main element (Water, Earth, Fire, Wind, Light, and Space), the advanced forms and combinations of each element, and the type of spells that each element would be able to use. The last page of the book was unbound to the rest, and it was enchanted so that as long as I channeled my mana into the paper, it would tell me which of the main elements I had affinities for.
Unsurprisingly, my affinities for every element was above average, but my affinity with Water and Space magic was very high, and my affinity with Light magic looked like it went beyond the limits of what the paper could show. Had I not read the book, I might have been confused at how I had a light affinity when I was a vampire, a creature of the night, but according to the book, light and darkness were not two separate elements, but were actually two sides of the same element.
It was not even noon yet when I finished the book and determined my affinities, so I immediately went back to the bookstore to collect some new books. Anatoly was alone again this time, and we had a brief, friendly conversation before I showed him my paper with my affinities.
“This… is quite impressive,” he said, trying to hide his shock. “I expected you to be talented, since you came looking for more spells just 2 days after I gave you the book on learning skills, but I must admit, I didn’t expect it to be to this degree. If this is the case, you’ll probably be wanting a book on all of the basic elements, as well as a book on combat magic. Here.” he started stacking books in my hands.
He handed me 8 books in total, one for each basic element, one more advanced book on light magic, and one on combat magic.
“The basics of combat magic can be learned from a book, but you won’t get very far from books alone. I recommend you go down into a Dungeon or go on a monster hunt to get some experience if you want to get good.”
“Yes, that’s my plan. I already have my Adventurer’s license, and I’m going to go down into the nearby Dungeon as soon as I have some more combat skills.”
“Excellent. Though I will say to you now that the Bizet Dungeon will most likely not satisfy you for long. There are very few adventurers above level 40 here, because the Dungeon isn’t difficult enough for most to get further than that. If you want a tougher Dungeon, try Claude. There are a couple there that might suit your needs. Actually, on second thought, that might not be the best idea, since the main church of Order is located there. Hmmmm… follow me for a moment.”
He led me over to another bookshelf and pulled out a ninth book and added it to my already too heavy stack.
“This book is a couple decades old, but the information in it is all still reliable. It will tell you about the locations and difficulties of all known Dungeons in Astraeus.”
“Thank you, but… This is a lot. How much will they cost.”
“Ordinarily, they would about a gold, but for you, I can discount it down to 6 silver. If you don’t have that much on you right now, I’d be happy to let you take out a no-interest loan.”
“It’s ok, I have it. Just let me set these down for a sec.”
“Oh, of course.” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cloth bag. Then he ran his finger down my stack of books, and as he touched each one, they vanished, and the bag shook a little. “Here, this should make them easier to carry.”
I accepted the bag gratefully as I handed over the coins I owed him. It was a large portion of my remaining funds, but it would be worth it. Especially if I spent the night out in the woods again, practicing my magic, so I wouldn’t have to pay for an inn. We exchanged a few more polite words, and I thanked him once again before I left.
This time, I decided to go to the forest immediately, instead of waiting for the night. I relaxed under a tree until nightfall, reading the book on light magic, and spent the rest of the night, and the next month in the forest, practicing magic, leveling up my skills, and hunting.