Chapter 2

New Quest

Dining Hall is possibly the most beloved building in any school. The Oasis that exists in the desert.

There are no chefs or even kitchen staff that can be seen. Just a pristine hall with multiple booth seats and long tables.

Fruits and vegetables can be seen growing from one side of the hall.

“This is a weird setup. Cooking spells are one of the most basic spells that elementary school kids learn. But I didn't think they would just have an open kitchen like this.” Jace and Cade had come to the dining hall with the whole class after the combat magic class was over.

“And there is no meat…….” A girl with silver hair said.

“Oh, if you want meat, you have to go and hunt it yourself. Or trade for it with the hunters club” The upperclassmen were friendly and showed the group around.

“It would be smart if you guys figured out who can enchant good-tasting food. That person will be extremely valuable. For us, it's that guy over there. He is the second year’s best food enchanter” the friendly upperclassmen points to the olive-skinned man next to him.

“Thank you senior” after the upperclassmen walked away. The first year decided to just eat fruits for today. They were all exhausted.

The long tables were soon filled with fruits and fresh vegetables.

The first-year students started to group up to eat. Jace found a spot near the window, and Cade joined him shortly after.

“How about we get to know each other a bit? We didn't make a bad team in the last class” Cade said while eating a pear.

“What do you want?” Jace didn't look at him, only peeled an orange

“You are unfriendly.” Cade's smile is a bit stiff. “I will be frank then. I think you are talented. It is not a bad idea to form a connection with you.”

Jace said nothing. He has seen this so many times before. People who look for opportunities to exploit. He thought about his friends and a surge of strong feelings pressed down on him.

Jace downed the fruits in his hands, got up, and walked away.

—------------------------------

It's been a few weeks since the entrance ceremony. Jace has gotten accustomed to life in the academy. Mostly spends his time playing with Ruin or researching his powers. The global mana net was a huge help in his research.

The global mana net, a relic of the chaotic era, is a piece of technology that was adapted to be used with mana instead of machines and electricity. A data bank of humanity’s collective knowledge. Access to the global net only required mana and any flat surface, most people only carried small mirrors or even conjured the net directly on flat ground. But access to deeper knowledge like extremely old records or even advanced spells and mana control can only be acquired from a few magic academies scattered all over this world. This was the main reason most students came to this academy.

There were many interesting things that he saw on the net since coming to the academy, the knowledge that is inaccessible to normal citizens.

Maps of the world from the chaotic era caught his eye. According to the map, tens of thousands of years ago the world was fractured into several landmasses called continents, and water covered more than 70 percent of the entire world.

“Hard to accept that this is our world ten thousand years ago. The world is one big land mass now, and water barely covers 40 percent of the world.” Jace had allowed his curiosity to distract him before returning his attention to planning his future actions.

What class he needed to take to advance his knowledge, and what path of magic was needed to reach Ascension?

He has realized that most students do not attend class at all and prefer to do personal research or projects in their own houses. Classes or teachers are only really useful for giving additional guidance or practical tests, as for actual information and knowledge, no humans can ever compete with the net.

The only subject that every student never misses is the combat magic class. It's extremely rare to have an opportunity to practice combat magic at full power and even rarer to practice against a real dragon. Nothing improves combat skills faster than real practice.

During this time, he has received a new hint from the system

Side Quest

Cleaning!

There has been a massive increase in the number of monsters in the surrounding forest. Monsters are looking for opportunities to devour potential mages that have yet to mature. Clean up the forests and stop the progress of the monster Ascension.

Reward: magic intensity + 3

Failure: Every month the quest remains open Monster Ascension progress +1%

“This is a problem.” His excitement was killed by a realization

Monsters are not a joke. Even the lowest level of monsters like slime can become disasters if they devour enough mana.

Unlike animals or humans, monsters are not natural beings, as such they are unable to absorb or use mana that exists in nature to grow.

However, they can get mana another way, by devouring animals, plants, and humans. For this reason, monsters would purposely hunt for humans and animals. Monster waves would raid towns and even cities if the wave got big enough.

“The academy would never go out of its way to eliminate all the monsters in the forest since it's a great place for students to get real combat experience. But what if they didn't notice that the number of monsters has increased exponentially? And if the number of monsters increases every month, then eventually…….a monster wave….” Jace thought, his eyes showed signs of rage and madness

And there is another big problem, he only knows the most basic spell that most people learn in mandatory education. He still doesn't know any offensive spells.

—------------------------------

Jace went to find the only person that might be able to help.

Behind the vast academy grounds stood a tall cloudy mountain. He could see groups of eastern students meditating at the foot of the mountain. A few of the students are scattered around the area. Some are sparring, some are practicing alone with weapons in hand. Each swing of the sword, each swift kicks send out elemental magics.

“Combat mages” Jace has seen these mages before. A certain combat mage had saved him not long ago.

A corpse of a dead monster can be seen near the edge of the forest. A giant snake with horns and small human arms.

“Maybe I got the right idea” Jace feels hopeful looking at the dead monster.

“Why did you come here, junior?” An upperclassman got up from his meditation and walked over to him. A bald man that looks to be about 30 years old.

“Excuse me senior, I am looking to get counseling from Sir Windshear. Would that be possible at the moment?” Jace brought his hands together and bowed in the traditions of the East.

The senior looked a bit surprised

“You were raised in our ways? Welcome brother. Sir already knows that you are here. Sir always knows.” the senior laughed and patted his shoulder.

Jace blinked and a handsome old man in a blue robe was standing right in front of him.

Again, just like at the entrance ceremony, he only felt a tremendous amount of mana, but his eyes and ears couldn't see nor hear him arrive.

“Oh…….you are a talent.” Sir Windshear smiled at him and said. The other students around him looked surprised. “You saw me coming? How?” Sir Windshear's eyes are full of interests

“No sir, I didn't see. I only felt your mana” Jace answered, he felt intimidated by all the eyes on him. This is a nightmare for introverts.

“Hm…..why did you look for me?” His smile was wide.

“Sir, I would like to ask for your guidance on offensive magic” Jace bowed his head. The seniors around him smile and nod

“I see. Send a full power shock into my hand” Sir Windshear extended his hand.

Jace grabs his hand and musters all the mana in his body. Using the mana to control and enhance the electricity, he sends it at full force to his hand.

Sir Windshear looked at the electricity shocking his hand and felt the power in it.

“I see. Amazing level of control, even better than myself, and average mana for your age. But your magic intensity……..level 1-2?” Sir Windshear showed a face of regret. The students in the area showed excited faces to hear of Jace's mana control but then shook their heads in regret. “With this level of control, I would have made you my direct disciple, but this low level of magic intensity…… Even if you learn offensive magic, you can not harm any monsters. I am sorry son.” Sir Windshear showed a regretful but warm smile as if to comfort him.

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“I see….... Thank you, sir. I am sorry for bothering you“ Jace forced out a smile before bowing his head and turning around.

“Poor kid. But he could become an amazing researcher maybe” Several seniors can be heard gossiping.

—---------------------------------

“I don't believe that I can't defeat monsters. The planet would not give me this quest if it was impossible.” Jace was feeding fruits to Ruin in the empty gym.

Ruin has become his only friend. He was reluctant to think of him as a pet since Ruin was technically his teacher.

“What do you think Ruin? How can I beat a single monster? Let alone a whole lot of them…..” Jace said it out loud to himself. He kept feeding pieces of fruit to Ruin who was sitting on his lap, chirping happily

Ruin heard what he said and suddenly looked up at him. A piece of apple floated into the air and a ball of fire suddenly roasted the apple. Ruin looked at Jace with his big round eyes while his mouth was full of roasted apples.

“I can't do that. My magic intensity is too weak” Jace took out another apple from his bag while rubbing Ruin’s head.

Ruin then grabbed the apple with its small hands and lightly threw it into the air. Ruin made a waving motion with his stubby arm and the apple was sliced in half.

“Are you making fun of me? I told you can't do that with my low magic intensity. If you make fun of me, I won't give you any more fruits” Jace pokes on the silver horns of the baby dragon.

Ruin made a few chirping noises as if unhappy.

Jace laughed at the baby dragon. This gym was his sanctuary

—-------------------------------

Jace has been in the library since 3 days ago. He was using the net this entire time.

Articles after articles about how to kill monsters. Most of the articles only advise people to run away when they meet a monster. Wise words to be sure, but he could not run away now.

After getting nowhere and getting bored, he was looking at videos of the most high-tech weapons available on the market right now. Most of them are staffs that enhance mana, aura blades, everything requiring mana or aura of some form, and magic intensity always determines the amount of damage these weapons can output.

In the related videos column, he saw an interesting video. Weapons from the chaotic era!

In the chaotic era, tens of thousands of years before mana existed in the world, humans lived in a primitive and brutal state. Humans would even wage wars on each other, where millions of humans would die. Such things are unthinkable in the current age. If humans were to use magic and wage war on each other, that amount of mana would lure a massive monster wave like the world has never seen before. The end of human civilization.

During that era, humans used to rely on technology for everything. Cars, planes, boats, and even the global net he is using right now came from that era. Of course, most of these technologies are obsolete now. Just like technology replaced animal husbandry during the chaotic era, mana had replaced all technology.

There was no need for a car when most people could run faster with mana. No need for planes when a teleportation port exists. No need for electricity or other energy when mana plants exist.

But there are still many technology enthusiasts, just like this guy in the video.

The video shows a short and burly man with a massive white beard that covers his entire face, only his eyes are visible.

“Today we will be looking at these experimental weapons from the chaotic era. You wouldn't believe how hard this was to find. It was impossible to find, so I built it myself! Hahahahahaha” The man was extremely high-energy.

“A Dwarf.” Jace has never seen a Dwarf before.

“Look at this beauty! I wanted to use authentic metal from that era. But damn Elves are using them as collectible plates. Too expensive. So these babies were made from mana metal, don't have to worry about it blowing up if you insert mana into it.” The white beard dwarf inserts mana into the replica gun and waves it around while casting basic spells.

Jace was sure this was not how these guns were used. After all, humans from the chaotic era didn't have magic. Why would they make a magic staff like that?

“self-repair enchant, mana stability enchant and it can even self-cast fireball. All enchants are done by one of those damn Elves so don't worry about the quality. I only made 4 of these and they are selling fast! Send a direct message to me and we can talk about the price!” Dwarf said proudly, his hands on his hips.

Jace turned off the net and got ready for bed. He felt like he wasted the whole day just looking at various videos for fun. “The net is a dangerous thing,” he thought.

—---------------------------------------

Jace spends the next few weeks on the net and testing his ideas with Ruin. This time, he made sure to access the deeper net, a vast knowledge base that the academy had given him.

Monsters Ascension had increased by 1% during this time.

Weeks of reading information on spells and magic theory made him feel like his brain was melting. He does not even remember the last time he saw another human.

But his efforts had paid off

Side Quest

Before anything else, preparation is the key to success - Alexander Graham Bell

Long ago, humans rose to the top of the food chain with their brilliant ingenuity. Human civilizations were built on the footprints of geniuses. Follow in their footsteps.

Create an original spell!

Reward: magic intensity +1, original spell

Failure: mana control -5, Monster Ascension +3%

“This pretty much confirms that I have come on the right path. But I still don't know how I can use my control to make a spell that can kill monsters with this meager magic intensity.” Jace is still looking at the net. Hundreds of videos on weapons from the chaotic era of humanities. “I don't have much time. If I allow monsters in the forest to keep growing, even if I successfully create a new spell, there is no guarantee that it will be effective against such strong monsters. Maybe I need a weapon?”

Jace thought about the videos of Weapons he had seen recently. Weapons from the chaotic era are quite primitive. Guns were used to send out metal bullets at high velocity. It was not used as a magic staff like what that Dwarf had done. However, those bullets wouldn't get past even his low-intensity mana shield.

There are video records in the deep net from the end of the chaotic era. Giant machines made completely from metal and a giant metal rod mounted on top of it. Hundreds of those war machines can be seen shooting explosive bullets at a mage with a primitive mana shield spell. That single mage was able to annihilate the entire metal machine army by herself and suffered no injuries. Such is the power of mana.

Jace was sure, chaotic-era weapons were useless in the face of monsters clad in mana.

He has thought about enhancing these bullets or guns with mana, similar to how Eastern mages enhance their blades or fists with mana. But these weak metals would get crushed just by inserting mana into it.

“My thoughts have wandered too far. The planet had told me to create a spell, not a weapon” Jace thought

He set aside the thought of a weapon for a moment

First, he thought about all the spells he could use at the moment. Scan, Shock, Telekinesis.

Scan is a spell used for scanning an area, object, or person for mana. 0 offensive power.

Telekinesis is another basic spell that every child or adult knows how to use. Using mana to move objects. Depending on how it is used, offensive power is 0-???

His last hope is the last spell

Shock, according to historians, the appearance of this spell single-handedly ended the chaotic era. Using mana to control and enhance electricity currents that exist in every human’s body. This spell is capable of producing enough electricity to power a city with only 100 people.

The chaotic era’s energy wars, environmental poisoning, and even food production are all solved by this one spell. The spell that saved the world.

Jace had read about the concept of magnets and magnetic fields in the deep net. If the Shock spell is capable of controlling electricity currents, maybe it is capable of controlling magnetic fields as well.

There were experimental weapons from the chaotic era that used magnetic fields to achieve massive destructive powers. Those weapons might be useless now, however Jace thought he could replicate those same principles but use mana as the conduit instead of primitive technology.

Jace closed his eyes and tried to move his mana inside his own body, moving around electricity currents, searching for what triggered magnetic fields.

Then he felt it, the mana was moving the electricity and enhancing it to exponential levels. When electricity is moving through his muscles, heart, and even his brain, Mana Authority helps him to feel it. A hidden current happens every time his muscles are stimulated by electricity.

“So this might be the magnetic field I read about” Jace was happy that the experiment was bearing fruit. But then, he felt it.

Searing pain. His body felt like it was being crushed. This sensation brought him back to that night. The smell of iron, the blood, the pain.

But no, it's not nearly that bad. Not even close. This level of pain is enough to drive a normal person mad, but he is already broken.

Jace did not even scream, only a smile could be seen on his face.

Mana is such a strong source of energy that using it on your own body could only result in intense pain.

The Shock spell is used to control electricity in the body and expel it outside. The electricity enhanced by mana is so strong that only one mage is capable of powering thousands of households. It was not meant to be contained within the body in such a charged state.

Jace is using that intense electricity to stimulate his own body to create a strong magnetic field. Muscles, the heart, and even the brain.

He couldn't help but laugh at his situation.

“I have to do all this just to create attack spells that I can use. A normal mage could just use fireball or ice spike and they could level mountains if their magic intensity was high enough.” Jace shakes his head. His torture continues

Floating nearby, Ruin looked at him with an uncharacteristically calm demeanor.

Jace’s eyes filled with madness. The pain he is enduring has already gone over the threshold that a normal human, even a mage with bodies enhanced by mana, can reasonably endure. Pure rage and insanity are pushing him forward. Rage against his enemies.

His body continued to spasm until he finally dropped to his knees. Blood is leaking out of his nose, ears, and eyes. Scarlet pools on the ground below him.

He felt his heart slow, his brain foggy, and his muscles screamed in pain. But he kept going, stimulating every part of his body over and over again. His heart slowed, almost stopping, and he would shock his own heart, jump-starting it.

Jace knew. He needed to keep going. Go beyond the limit of humanity, go beyond his limits. What he needed to face, his true enemies, can not be beaten with a human’s body. The strength needed to save the people he wishes to save is not merely the power of humanity’s best, but something beyond that.

He repeated this action over and over. He didn't know how long he had been doing it. He didn't count how many times his heart almost slowed to a stop before he shocked it again. But he kept going, until finally, he felt the magnetic field around his own body.

“Ruin………….. I did it” Jace could only see darkness

Ruin has been quietly watching him this whole time. It realized Jace had gone blind and deaf from his self-inflicted torture. The baby dragon waved his small arms and the gym door swung open. A giantess with growing green eyes can be seen on the other side.

Ruin tapped the forehead of Jace with his small claw and Jace's body flew into the opened door.

—----------------------------

Nature magic class

Cade came to this academy to learn healing magic. The most rare and difficult type of magic to learn. But in this place resides one of the most powerful nature mages.

Greeneyes Yorah, a half-giant of few words. She was always dressed in a white apron and headscarf that covered her red hair. Her half-giant face is more handsome than pretty.

What kind of teacher doesn't give lectures or teach anything? Cade was annoyed the first time he came here. But he realized quickly, she didn't need to speak at all to teach.

Greeneyes would take care of the plants and gardens around the academy every day. She walks around the premises and uses various types of healing magics on plants and flowers. A group of students follows her around all day, watching her magic, taking notes, and practicing what they just saw. Cade himself had already mastered several healing spells.

But recently something happened. Several times a day, no matter where they were in the academy ground. A black-haired man would suddenly appear from a door nearby soaked in blood each time.

Cade was watching Jace once again stumble onto their study group, soaked in blood.

Cade wasn't sure what that annoying guy had been doing. He mostly kept to himself, only spending time in the library and the gym.

Since a few days ago, he had been coming to nature magic class, blood trailing behind him, and each time Greeneyes would heal him up without a word. Jace would give her his thanks, quickly leave, and appear again in the same state a few hours later.

Cade and the other students were surprised at first, but they had long grown accustomed to the smell of blood.

In truth, such sights are very common in this academy. Eastern combat mages fight daily with each other and monsters in the forest. Students' experiments have gone wrong. Even disagreements between students broke out into a fight. Blood and even death are not unusual.

But that guy’s injuries, Cade couldn't believe his eyes the first time he saw it. Jace had shown up unconscious, blood leaking from every orifice of his body, blind and deaf. His tongue was half bitten off, most likely from when he went into shock and bit his tongue. He thought that guy would die for sure from such wounds. Even if Greeneyes was able to heal his flesh wounds, the human spirit would break from such pain.

But that guy survived. That guy stood up, again and again.

He had assumed that it was a really bad experimental accident. But after Jace had come to the class with almost the same wounds several times in one day, and then every day after that. Cade realized, that whatever Jace was doing, these injuries were at least part of the expected result.

He never saw that guy scream or even moan from pain. He had assumed Jace might not feel pain at all. But while he watched Greeneyes heal him with various healing spells, he saw Jace flinched at certain spells. It meant that he felt pain, but he was enduring it.

That level of pain, all day, every single day.

Cade had been interested in that guy, he was an unusual person. Most students come here not just to study, practice, or research magic. They came here to form connections with other mage’s families, and potential future archmages, and even scout promising research. Being a mage is also about forming or joining a group of allies you can depend on. The magic field is extremely cutthroat, without the support or backing of your factions, your research or work is likely to be robbed by others.

But Jace is completely uninterested in other humans, let alone forming connections or joining a group. Cade was curious, what was Jace doing in this academy?

But now he knows

“That guy is insane.”

—-----------------------------

Jace Farsea

Race: Human (100%)

Title: Exile, Cosmic Enemy, Doomed Fate, Apex predator’s favorite pet (new)

Vitality 5 +3 (8) (update)

Magic: intensity 2 + 1(-??)(-1) (update)

Control 10 (+90)

Mana 6 (+94) (-94)

Spell: Scan

Shock

Telekinesis

Magnetic force (new)

Trait: Mana Authority

Mana and Aura allergies

Curse of disfigurement

Curse of ?????

Cursed bloodline

Curse of weakness

Doomed

Curse of the uninvited

Curse of insanity

Curse of the void

Extremely weak Mana-enhanced body (new)

Blessing: Blessing of the Earth

Planet’s chosen

Ascension of host +1 (1)

Ascension of monsters +2 (4)