I stood in front of the Awakening stone. It really did look like sunset captured in a sphere of glass. Yui said I could use this room after saying I wanted to use the spell books.

Meditation was never my strong suit, but I do understand the basics. Lilly convinced me to try once, while we were resting between floors. I think that was the moment she truly realised my magical affinity was a hopeless cause.

Picking out one of the new floor pillows I sat down and got into a comfortable position. The pack did not open the way I expected. I tried to open it like any other bag, but my fingers were unable to slide under the flap. Sera said that this was a dimensional pack, so maybe it worked the same way as activating my mana marble. I thought clearly that I wanted everything inside to be outside as I pushed mana into the pack. The contents started appearing on my lap and in front of me on the floor.

There was a bundle of black cloth, two books, one blue gemstone, and two glass vials, one red and one blue. The gemstone looked familiar, similar to the gemstones found in higher floors of the tower. Picking up the stone I wrapped my fingers around it and focused. It crumbled to dust in my hand, and I felt a flow of information steam into my mind.

Skill gained:

Appraise item

Rank: 0

Cost: 10 SP

Description:

Focus on an item and estimate its quality, rank, and value.

Higher rank increases information.

Nice, I felt a bit lost without the inspect skill, hopefully this will make up for that loss. With the gem out of the way, it was now time for the best part and the reason why I accepted Hiro’s offer. Spells!

A grin formed on my face. I spent the last two decades hating the sight of spell books, each one a reminder of my impotence. Now however, holding the spell book filled me with a giddy excitement.

The front cover had the word “Identify” in golden, slightly glowing lettering. “Here we go.” I reached down and opened the cover.

Nothing happened the book just lay open in front of me. I flipped a few pages, but nothing changed. The text was written in a bunch of symbols I couldn’t make any sense of. The only book I had experience using was the class change book, and all I did was open it.

Closing my eyes, I focused on my mana. After getting a good grasp on my mana, I pushed it down into the book, through my fingers. This felt different than the skill gem, not only did I feel information seep into my mind, I also felt a rush of energy travel into my body. I gave out a breath and looked down. The book had turned into a pile of dust that now blanketed my lap.

Spell Gained

Rest or Mediation required.

I laughed in excitement. It worked! I’m totally going to learn every spell I can get my hands on. One down, one left. Fireball, a spell I was very excited to learn. I performed the same action. Opened it and pushed my mana into the spell tome.

Spell Gained

Rest or Mediation required.

I stood up just to brush off the impressive amount of dust that built up on me, before sitting back down again. I needed to either meditate or have a nap to access the spells. Since today has been a day of firsts, I decided to go with the former.

Getting into a comfortable position, I thought back to what Lilly said on meditating. “Just close your eyes and focus your attention inside yourself. I know you think it’s useless…. But if there is something there, it will just take time to find. Don’t give up, just focus harder. Hey, no peeking. It’s only been an hour. Damn you! You’re not focusing enough!”

My lips curved into a smile. If only she was here now. I’m sure she would be just as excited that I could now use mana… After getting over the activation of the godly class tome. I mean I did all the work, It’s only right I got first pick. Anyway I’m sure she would be stuck in a week long city wide celebration.

Shaking my head of distracting thoughts. I placed my hands on my lap, closed my eyes, and focused inwards.

It only took a moment to find my mana. I could feel it traveling all over my body. It felt a bit like a lava lamp, the way it moved and was hypnotic to watch.

There was a foreign energy alongside my own, I could sense it as a different colour. Mine was a silvery white while this new energy was blue and orange. It was slowly integrating with my own mana. I fell into a trance just watching it flow together.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

An unknown amount of time past until I came back to myself. I felt really good, like waking up from the best powernap. I focused inwards, and could only sense my own mana.

Opening my eyes, I was greeted by the face of a young woman who was way too close. She had her eyes closed, and was sniffing my face area. I could see the flaring of her nostrils, and could smell peppermint on her breath when she exhaled. There were also a pair of cat ears peeking through her red hair.

I asked the only thing anyone that would ask after waking up to a stranger sniffing them. “What are you doing?”

She let out a yelp, jumped two metres into the air, and landed directly on the pile of dust. A cloud billowed outwards from the impact and a trail followed her as she scampered away on all fours to the other side of the room.

Yui and Richard were also here. They were sitting on pillows with a shallow wooden box between them.

“Miko! I said not to disturb him!” Yui was waving her hands trying to keep the cloud away. “Great, now there is dust all over the cakes.” Her continued waving was only making the cloud spread out.

Richard stood up with the hem of his robed arm covering his mouth and nose. “Hello Reigner, enjoy your meditation?” He took a step forward and stumbled over the box, splattering cake across the floor. “Oops” He glanced towards Yui, “Sorry… I’ll just wait outside.”

Sighing, I looked in front of me. Broken glass and a mixed puddle of red and blue remained of what was once health and mana potions. Luckily the bundle of cloth was not stained. I grabbed it and made my way through the dust cloud.

I exited the room just in time to see Sera come around a hallway corner.

Sera was probably the most beautiful woman I have met in Aruni, but watching her calmly walk toward me now with her elven grace filled me with dread. Great timing, she wouldn’t blame this mess on me, right?

She stopped, examined the once again messy room, and turned towards me. Her brows were furrowed, and I could feel her sapphire blue eyes boring into my skull. “Reigner, I can tell exactly where you have been today. Want to know how?” I opened my mouth to respond but she kept going before I could say a word. “You have left either mess or destruction in every room you have spent more than five minutes in, so far today.”

“I’ll take complete responsibility for what happened in here last night, but this.” I pointed into the room. “Was not my fault. I had nothing to do with that mess... expect maybe, for the dust. But I did not jump into it like some clown.”

“Who are you calling a clown?” the voice came from inside the clouded room. Was it bigger? It definitely looked like the cloud had expanded.

Actually, the room now looked like a disco with the red beams of light from the awaking stone shining through all the dust.

Sera’s right eye twitched. She brought up her hands and started counting on fingers. “A wooden katana was found buried into the ceiling of the training hall.” She moved to her next finger. “A report came in, stating your room’s door is broken and a mess of weapons are cluttered all over the bed and floor, too dangerous to enter.” And we are back again here, the now infamous, meditation room.” Sera opened her hand and angled it toward the room. A vortex appeared and pulled in the cloud of dust.

Yui and the other lady, Miko I presume, were standing and waving their arms around. They stopped after noticing Sera.

Miko took a step towards us and stepped on some splattered cake causing her leg to slide out beneath her. Trying to catch herself, she stumbled forwards, reached out, and grabbed onto my pants. I felt them rip off me as she slammed her head into the floor. Not only did she have cat ears, from this angle I could see she also had a red furry tail.

I shook out the bundle of cloth, which turned out to be a black robe, and held it In front of my bare legs. At this point I am starting to feel like the world is against me wearing clothes. I looked over to Sera and gave her a small smile.

She sighed and brought a hand to her forehead, facepalming.

“Reigner, I’m starting to think that I should accompany you while you stay here. I believe the guild would be much cleaner if I do.” Thoughts of spending hours doing various activities with her flash through my mind and my smile turned into a grin.

“You know... I think that is an excellent idea.”

She raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth to speak.

Hysterical laughter from Yui interrupted her. She walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder, oblivious of the moment I was sharing with the gorgeous woman in front of me. “I’m so… so glad that you are part of my group, Reigner.”

I facepalmed for a moment and turned to Sera “I changed my mind. I don’t want to be in the guild anymore.”

Sera’s face cracked into a small smile “it’s unfortunate that you have already used the spell books. Seems that you will be with us for a while. The way she looked at me made my legs weak.

“Spell books, plural?” Asked Richard from behind me. “What spells did you learn? If you don’t mind sharing.”

I forgot he was here. “Identify and fireball”

“I’m curious what spell you acquired. Identify has a hundred present success rate, while other spells can typically change depending on the person and their class. W-what class were you again?”

“He’s a conjuror!” Stated Yui.

“No. I’m a summoner, not a conjuror.”

Richard sucked in air and his eyes widened. “Summoner? “He pulled out a pen and notebook “I need to record this.” Writing in his book he continued “This could be a new addition to the role book.” He looked up a moment later. “Ah, I won’t share anything that you want kept secret.”

I glanced towards Sera, she had a frown adoring her face and was looking down at the cake smeared. “Yeah, don’t worry about it… Richard, right? Why are you here, anyway?”

“Has Yui not told you? We are your new team! I have the Lightbringer class and I’m the groups healer. Yui is an Arcane Samurai, the main close quarters damage dealer, And Miko… Well, she is a sentinel, and the groups damage absorber.” He looked down towards my feet “Do you plan on laying down there forever, Miko?”

“Leave me alone!” Glancing down I saw the beastkin pulling the remains of my pants over her head, further hiding her face.

I took a step back from her prone form and turned towards Sera. “Is there a private room nearby I can use to change?”

“Yes. Follow me.” She started guiding me down the hallway. “From the rumours going around, I thought you might have enjoyed being naked in front of people.”

“Not particularly. However, the answer might be different if it’s you alone in front of me.”

Sera stopped and turned on a dime to face me. I almost walked right into her and caught a whiff of perfume. A refreshing combination of forest trees and berries. I managed to stop just in front of her, our faces almost touching. A smiled formed on her lips and she raised her arm. Sera’s sapphire eyes were especially beautiful right now and she had an amused expression on her face. I started to learn towards her but the sound of a door opening interrupted me.

“You can use this room. I hope you enjoy your first day in the Tower.” She started walking back towards the meditation room and stopped midway, turning slightly. “Try not to ruin any more clothes, I picked that one out for you personally.”