“What?” Simon seemed confused.

I don’t know what’s so confusing about my request. Cyrus offered me knowledge in exchange for leaving the forest so why can’t I ask Simon for knowledge?

“What do you mean by knowledge? Do you want to learn about something?” Simon asked as he explained why he couldn’t understand my request.

I still don’t know why he is confused. Knowledge is knowledge, why does there need to be a specific description?

“Knowledge is knowledge, how to fight is knowledge, using magic needs knowledge, everything is knowledge. Why is that confusing?” I wonder what else this Simon doesn’t know.

“Oh, so you do just want to learn. You could just ask for information rather than just saying knowledge. Preferably you could ask for information about a specific thing.” It seemed like Simon did understand what I had asked for. So why was he confused? Is this a strange characteristic of being a Human?

“Alright, I can teach you a bit but I’m not sure how much of it you’re going to like. Most things are quite boring.” Simon told me and I felt something similar to unhappiness when he said that knowledge is boring. I wonder if he’ll teach me what boring means.

*****

“-which is the most common plant in the world and also the one with the most uses.” Simon had given me a lot of knowledge. He gave me knowledge about words, people, history, magic, the System, and religion.

I don’t understand a few parts like why every god has a church but Cyrus doesn’t and he was apparently a god. I also don’t know why the people in the Mortal Realm fight each other so often. They should have learned everything from the fights during the previous times so why don’t they use the time spent fighting to learn more?

I did however learn about the different races of people in the Mortal Realm. Apparently things classified as creatures, monsters, plants, or animals get a Species and Subspecies while every other living thing in the Mortal Realm gets a Race. There isn’t any difference except the Subspecies can improve at a high enough level while the other things like Dwarves, Elves, and Humans have to level up and improve their classes, jobs, and professions in order to become stronger.

“That’s all for now, I have to attend a meeting and it probably isn’t a good idea to bring you along so for now you have to stay in this room. For the love of Faler, please do not cast any Earth or Lava spells. You can cast as many Illusion spells as you want but don’t cast any Earth or Lava ones. Goodbye.” Simon left and I suppose that meant I should do other things.

Simon had opened my cage so I was free to move around but why should I for now? I need to check my new skills. Starting with the various earth spells…

Where exactly did they go? I know I had a few but now the only new things are [Earth Magic] and [Earth Mana Manipulation]. I suppose I should check those first then.

Skill: Earth Magic Lv. 1

Description: A collection of the owner's various Earth magic spells. The level can only be increased through gaining more Earth magic spells or learning more about existing Earth magic spells. The starting level of this skill is determined by the average level of the first three spells the owner learned. The level of this skill determines the level of known Earth magic spells.

Use: Acts as a library for Earth magic spells. Using the skill alone will inform the user about which spells have been collected. If the user activates the skill with a specific spell in mind then that spell will be activated.

Skill: Earth Mana Manipulation Lv. 1

Description: A method of manipulating Earth mana. Earth mana can be used to strengthen the effect of Earth magic spells or give them new properties such as piercing or increased gravity.

Use: Allows the owner to control Earth mana. Higher levels allow for easier manipulation of Earth mana.

These aren’t very interesting. [Earth Magic] is just a collection of my Earth spells and [Earth Mana Manipulation] only allows me to control Earth mana. I suppose there could be interesting properties I could give to my spells but that needs practice… which I can’t get right now.

I don’t even need to use [Earth Magic] to know what spells I have. Although, I suppose I can use the menu to look at the description of each spell. I should do that, it might let me learn something new.

*****

Those were all boring. None of them was anything really different from the [Dense Rock]. They all stated almost the same thing with the only difference being the spell that it quickly forms. It just kept saying, “Quickly forms mana into an Earthen Spear, a Rock, an Earth Wall, or a Dense Earthen Spear.” No knowledge was gained but I did gain something else.

Identify Lv. 5 → Identify Lv. 6

That was almost a waste of time, so what do I do now?

Let me ask my clone. [Imperfect Mana Clone] activate!

I’m still not sure how to determine how much mana I spend when I activate a skill but it’s good enough for now.

So clone, what should I do?

The clone just stared at me. I don’t even know if it saw me. I don’t think this clone got much mana.

Well that was pointless. I suppose I have two options currently. I can either level up the imperfect mana clone which seems pointless since once I get [Illusion Magic] it won’t matter almost at all or I can get more Illusion spells to unlock [Illusion Magic]. Welp, more spells it is.

But how exactly do I cast new Illusion spells? Simon didn’t have any knowledge about it and Cyrus only gave me the basic elemental magic knowledge. The clone was made by me wanting to make something that looked like me and would be noticeable while hiding me. The latter was the basis of Illusion magic while the former seems to be the function.

So if I can make something that looks like me to distract people then why can’t I make other things to distract people? That butterfly made itself appear to be in a different location when it wasn’t so maybe I could try that.

But, isn’t that just a clone with me using stealth? Hm, this is going to be somewhat difficult.

If the other magics have a simple ball shape for a spell, why can’t Illusion? But, I need a rough idea of what it’s supposed to do. The rock formed because I believed that it was a rock and would act like a rock. The lava ball formed because I believed it would be fire in a rock shape which it kind of was and was able to do as much damage as fire. The rest of the spells were known to me from Cyrus’ knowledge, meaning I knew what they were going to do and could form them.

So what purpose would a fake ball serve? It can’t do any harm and it wouldn’t actually exist.

Since the clone’s purpose was to distract things by taking attention away from me, it took parts from both Light and Dark, it hid me while being blatantly obvious. Didn’t Simon teach me about an idiom that was something like, “hiding in plain sight”?

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Well, if the clone hid me by making things focus on it allowing me to hide while right next to them why can’t the Illusion ball do the same but with another spell? If the clone was a copy of me and existed to hide me then the Illusion spell could hide another spell by drawing attention to it.

That… might work. Alright, now there’s a purpose so I need to make the shape which should be very easy since it’s just an orb, ball, sphere, ahh so many new words.

Anyways, make a sphere while thinking that it’s going to be a fake spell to hide an actual spell, fill it with mana with the same thought, and release it…

What is that? It looks like a ball of fire but it’s much stranger than that. It seems to give an aura of a king or something else of royalty. I think that’s what this feeling is anyways, based off of what Simon told me.

It feels like I should do everything it says but I know it’s just a spell and not even a real spell, just a fake one.

Hmm, [Identify].

Illusion of a Spell: A very weak spell that nothing could possibly be harmed by but has randomly disguised itself as a level five Royal Hellfire spell.

So it was a royal feeling. Very strange but would it be every time I cast the spell it would disguise as a random spell? That would let me learn about a lot of things but according to Simon, some knowledge is guarded by some very powerful things which means that I need to become a powerful creature as well so I can get that knowledge. If it's random every time then it won’t be useful for getting the knowledge being guarded and could only let me learn the knowledge of the random spells it turns into which I won’t fully understand, making it even less useful.

Skill acquired: Lesser Illusion of a Spell

Oh? It has the word lesser before the name of the spell. I know it means it’s weaker but does that mean that I can acquire a stronger version? I suppose I could unless it requires a very special thing like a rare title, Simon told me some skills have that requirement but it means that skill is extremely powerful as well.

So what does this spell do exactly? I know it makes a fake copy of another spell but how exactly and can I control what spell. I need to know, the knowledge wants to be known.

Skill: Lesser Illusion of a Spell

Description: A strange spell that is extremely weak but can imitate other spells’ mana to create an illusion of being much stronger. The lesser version of this spell can, at most, mimic the mana of a spell that is level five and tier three. If more Illusion spells are acquired, the skills [Illusion Magic] and [Illusion Mana Manipulation] will be acquired. This spell is heavily dependent on the amount of spells the caster has knowledge of.

Use: Quickly forms mana into an Illusion of a Spell. The spell copied will be random unless the caster directs it towards a specific spell by having the spell’s mana and the illusion’s mana interact.

Interesting, I can decide what spell is copied but it would need me to figure out how to summon a certain spell’s mana easily. Another interesting thing is that there is no mention of spending extra mana for an effect. Is it because this spell mostly needs knowledge?

Hm, what does it mean by tier three? Do spells have different tiers?

Well, I’m happy with this spell although I’m not sure how to get the stronger version besides using my layering method to make the mana dense.

However, I don’t think a stronger version would be a good idea. Since the Royal Hellfire could influence me so much, what would a stronger spell do? That influence was very strange too, was it because I’m a Mana Monster and don’t actually have a physical body beyond the one I made with mana?

Hmm, something to determine later. For now I have an idea for another Illusion spell. Since I can make a spell that hides itself as another spell and make a clone of myself that distracts people away from me, why can’t I combine those? A spell that hides me as something else while allowing my clone to take more attention since it looks like me?

How would it work though? Normally I would cast the spell away from me but to do this I would need to hide myself meaning I need to cast it on myself. I could cast it on my physical body but I also have [Shift Form] which allows me to turn from a mana body into a physical body or a physical body into a mana body. Would it work better if I cast it on my mana body?

The mana body was very strange. Unlike my physical body it couldn’t interact with other objects in the world but it was able to interact with the natural mana very easily. Usually the natural mana got in the way and made me move slower but in some places where the natural mana was more scarce it allowed me to move without worry of hitting obstacles.

If I were to cast this spell on my physical body then there would be a disconnect between the spell and me, this could lead to some issues such as a part of the illusion not moving when I do or something like the illusion just having a hole.

If I were to cast it on my mana body then there is a possibility there would be no disconnect and this illusion would be no different than if it was my actual body. There is a risk however, directly connecting the illusion to my mana body might cause the natural mana to slowly erode me as it does when I use [Assimilate Self] to temporarily merge with the natural mana.

To sum it up, there are two options. One is to connect the illusion with my physical body which would cause some flaws. The other option is to connect the illusion with my mana body which might make the illusion flawless in every way but might also cause the natural mana to try and take my mana, and with it my life, as it would do with any other spell.

Hm, safety would say to use the first option but knowledge demands the second option. There is only one real option here. I can’t just betray knowledge.

Well, only one thing to do now. First, use [Shift Form] so I can use my mana body.

Second, I need to form the shape of the spell around me. I suppose this would be whatever being I want to become. Hm, I suppose I can become a rabbit since I know the most about them.

Third would normally be to fill the spell with mana but since my mana body is the mana filling the spell, that is already done. I suppose the third thing would be to release the spell. I already filled the purpose of this spell because I made the shape a rabbit and know that it’s supposed to hide me.

Alright, here we go on a spell that might kill me. Oh well, the knowledge I will gain will be much more than worth it…

Ow.

That spell kind of hurt me. I also now have rabbit paws rather than my wolf paws.

Hm, something feels off. Almost like something that wasn’t expected to happen did happen.

Perhaps my profile can explain?

Subspecies: Mana Rabbit

What? How did I change Subspecies? How did I change Subspecies to something almost entirely unrelated to my original one.

Well? System, you have to explain, knowledge demands it.

Skill acquired: Self Illusion

The skill Self Illusion has reacted with the titles Fated and Lone Knowledge Seeker to form a new skill. The new skill formed is Self Reality.

So part of the issue was the titles Fated and Lone Knowledge Seeker. I think I know why the Fated title caused a change. I'm apparently in a prophecy that states I can become anything, but why did Lone Knowledge Seeker react?

Wait, why do I feel like I know everything about this Subspecies of rabbits? I even know exactly what they prefer to eat and the skills they usually learn.

Is this why Lone Knowledge Seeker reacted? So what exactly does this [Self Reality] skill do?

Skill: Self Reality Lv. ?

Description: A spell that has never appeared before. There is no knowledge of it besides what can be inferred from its effects. The System has never seen this type of skill or spell before and has decided to wait to assign a tier, type of magic, and level until more information is gathered.

Use: Can be activated to allow the user to quickly transform from one Subspecies to another. This seems to cause the user to inherit all of the strengths and weaknesses from the Subspecies. There seems to be more this spell can cause changes to but due to lack of information there are no available possibilities.

Hehe, I have another knowledge that no one else knows. Even the System knows nothing about it. Well, I don’t want to be a rabbit anymore. I suppose I should use [Self Reality] to turn back into a wolf.

[Self Reality] wolf form activate!

And I’m back. Hm, I seem to have lost quite a bit of the knowledge of the rabbit that I had when I was transformed into it.

Oh, I feel quite tired. I suppose activating [Self Reality] takes quite a lot of mana. Alright, Illusion of a Spell and Mana Clone you can do whatever you want. I’m… I’m just going to sleep.

*****

Salem never noticed that when they told the Mana Clone to do what it wished that the Mana Clone actually became less flawed and more like Salem. It even had a small glint of intelligence in its eyes.