After finding themselves some ink, Zeke carefully balanced the Witch’s Codex on the mezzanine’s railing, clearing out room for the magic circles. Dipping the brush into the inkwell, Zeke began drawing three intersecting rings as the outlines for the ritual, before filling them in with the details mirroring the Codex’s pages.

Circe stood from the sidelines with her arms crossed, eyes glued to his meticulous work. As she watched closer, she noticed the ink squirmed to life, wiggling into their proper shape whenever Zeke made a mistake. “So that’s how you always seem to draw perfect circles…that’s magic too?”

Unsurprisingly, Zeke didn’t respond back, having lost himself in deep concentration. His furrowed brows only focused on weaving the ink into the precise circles he’d seen in the Witch’s Codex. As one line connected with another, Circe watched with increasing awe at how Zeke managed to entwine them all together without lifting his brush once.

Despite the intricacy of the circles, it didn’t take long until Zeke straightened himself. Letting out a huff, Circe got the impression that he may have held his breath the entire time. “There we go, now we just have to hope it works, either that, or it explodes.”

His words wiped the awe from Circe’s face, replacing it with shock. “What?”

“Well, the circles are all activated,” Zeke explained in a nonchalant tone, contrary to the steep cost of the mentioned mistake. “I’m sure of this because my mana is still in the ink even though I already lifted the brush. So, it either works properly, or I just drew one good magic bomb.”

Circe made a face. “Why is it that every time I find myself watching you do magic, there’s always a dangerous catch?”

“Hey, it’s just a possibility,” Zeke waved his hand as a smile dawned on his lips. “I was just saying, I have the Mana Overlord aptitude, so if something truly is wrong then I’ll sense it first. The mana in these circles are stable, there’s no need to worry about a point one percent chance.”

“…” Circe grimace. “You know how we are with those chances. Did you forget about the golden trophies in our inventories already?”

“If you’re scared, why don’t you go wait downstairs?” Zeke suggested as he picked up Rokan’s Core by his side, placing it down on the intersection between the three circles. Despite having nothing to keep it steady, the sphere remained still inside the inked lines, as if held together by a mysterious force.

Swallowing nervously, Circe shook her head at Zeke’s recommendation. “No, I trust you,” her moment of vulnerability lasted for only those few seconds. “Besides that, I have to be here to see your face if the circles do explode.”

“Haha.” Zeke’s face remained expressionless as he hovered his hand above the ritual, letting the energy flow from his fingertips and activate the magic circles.

While outsiders couldn’t perceive the strings of magic, the bright light emitted from the ritual signaled its success. Inked lines began to glow hot red with mystic power as sparks flew from the Rokan’s Core, arching around its surface like solar flares bursting from the sun. As the sphere’s surface started to ripple, the luminance of the ritual suddenly converged into the irregular shape’s center, combining into one floating mass.

[Congratulations! You’ve gained the Aptitude: ]

< Aptitude Description >

Name: Mystic Craftsman

Rarity: Rare

Type: Magic/Crafting

Effects

Grants access to

Increase understanding in

Increase success chance when doing

<<>>

“Oh woah,” Circe’s eyes turned round at the notification’s sudden appearance. “You got an aptitude for that too, talk about bonus.”

Before Zeke could respond, his eyes snapped onto a hint of movement in the corner of his eyes.

[Extraction Complete!]

Another system panel interrupted them. Their attention snapped back to the shapeless mass hovering above the magic circles just in time to see it took form into a sphere once more.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

[The Passive Skill: is extracted from ]

< Skill Description >

Name: Wind’s Grace

Type: Passive Skill

Tier: C

Cost: None

Cooldown: None

Effects

The wind favors you, granting permanent (+3) to Agility.

Bonus Effects

Temporarily grants (+3) Agility when using a skill for 20 Seconds.

<<>>

“Wow,” Zeke did not sound impressed as he read the skill’s description. Glancing at Circe, he nudged his chin towards the floating mass. “It’s totally useless for me, so you can have it.”

“Really?” Circe’s widened eyes flickered back and forth between him and the skill, disbelief plastered across her expression, yet it couldn’t mask her child-like excitement. After Zeke nodded in confirmation, Circe beamed and reached her hand towards the irregular lump, watching as it gave off a soft glow before disappearing into particles.

[Received Passive Skill: ]

31>

[Conditions fulfilled. unlocked.]

[Achievement Unlocked: 'Classy~' - Unlock your first ]

[You’ve gained some EXP!]

[Reading Skill Types…Options generated.]

[Please choose your starting class.]

< Class Selection >

Warrior [RECOMMENDED]

A beginner-friendly balanced class, perfect for those who're just starting out. They primarily use close-range weapons, and excels at dealing damage while also soaking some damage when necessary.

Archer

This class excels at picking off enemies at a distance, dealing a significant amount of damage but is extremely frail. One hit from an enemy could spell disaster for archer classes, so it is not recommended for beginners.

Rogue

An expert-level class that has the best mobility in the game, and while they are good at moving around the map and dealing strong single-target attacks, they have very low . It is a mix between an ’s frail body and a ’s great close-range damage.

<<>>

Dismissing the other notification panels, Circe left only the class selection window open as joy flickered across her expression, turning the corner of her lips into a subtle grin. “We all know what class I’m picking.” With the confident exclamation, she tapped on the last option of her selection.

[Class Selected: Rogue.]

[Chances of gaining class-related skills and items increased.]

[You now gain one extra upon level up.]

Circe let out a squeal in delight, waving her hand at all the panels in front of her to clear them away. “Finally! I’ve been waiting to get myself a class!”

“Oh, we still have the Arachne’s Core left,” Zeke interjected as he extended his hand, asking for her to hand the last orb over. When he received the sphere, he placed it down on the magic circles as he did before, and watched the magic ritual begin once more.

[Extraction Complete!]

[The Active Skill: is extracted from ]

< Skill Description >

Name: Web Weaver

Type: Active Skill

Tier: B

Cost: 20 MP

Cooldown: None

Effects

Allows the user to generate and control strong spider webs from their hands, consuming initial <20 MP> for the first 10 Meters, and increasing the cost by <10 MP> every extra Meter.

Strings can harden and become sharp wires. Attacks by inflict and deal damage.

Bonus Effects

The user can imbue certain with into their webs with no extra cost.

<<>>

Reading the skill’s description, Circe let out a sharp whistle. “It’s perfect for you, but in any case, I think Arachne’s skills are all useful for a support mage considering that she inflicts poison.”

“It is, but to be frank, I actually wanted this one the most,” Zeke admitted with a smile as he waved his hand over the irregular mass, registering the skill into the system. While dismissing all the notification panels, he shifted his focus to Circe. “I’ve seen this one guy doing a Web Weaver build online, it was already cool in game, but now I want to know what else I can do with real physics.”

“You found the build online?” Circe brought her hand to her chin, brows furrowed slightly in deep thought. “Is it from a guy named ‘Yokurt’?”

“Yeah,” a surprised look dawned on Zeke’s face as he stared at her with widened eyes. “How did you know? You watched that video too?”

Circe’s brows unknotted. “Well,” a sheepish look crept to her expression. “Yokurt was my online friend…and I was the one who gave him permission to do a video about the build I came up with. He did mention that, if I remember correctly.”

Zeke’s expression froze as he eyed her blankly for a moment. “Oh…OH.” Suddenly, his confusion shifted into excitement in the blink of an eye, startling Circe as she leaned back in shock. “You made that build? That’s fucking sick! You have to tell me your thought process on that one. It was the only DPS build that I like since Yokurt—or I guess you said it could double as a good support build and—“

“Wait!” Circe brought Zeke’s ramblings to a sudden halt. Taking a deep breath, she allowed a few seconds of silence to calm the both of them down. “Whew, I never knew you could get so energetic, one thing at a time, alright?”

Even Zeke looked just as stunned as her, perhaps he didn’t know that he could get that hyped up either. “Yeah, sorry, my excitement just bursted after seeing that I got the skill I like,” Zeke looked down at his fiddling thumbs with a dumbfounded look on his face. “But if you could…maybe you can…talk about it with me?”

“…Oh my god,” Circe counted it as a blessing that Zeke couldn’t see her hand covering her wide grin right now as an unknown heat crept up her cheeks. “He’s so cute!”

”Of course!” After swiftly recomposing her demeanor, Circe put on a beaming smile. “You worked hard on these magic circles just for this moment, right? But let’s first clean up all the ink and we can go take a walk in the garden.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” excitement lingered in Zeke’s eyes, curving his smile further upwards. “Since it’s already become a temporary ritual, the ink will disappear when the mana fades. So let’s go out right away.”

Hearing the urgency in his voice, Circe couldn’t help but laugh, a wide grin spreading across her face. “Okay! I give that this is the pass for talking about Dungeon Regime builds with you?”

“Sure,” Zeke nodded as he rose from the floor, Circe following soon after with a careful maneuver to avoid her healing foot. “I actually enjoy listening to analysis of these things, even if I don’t use them myself or go on dungeon runs often. I’m not surprised that you’d like talking about them though.”

“I’ve been holding back since I couldn’t find the right moment to start rambling until now,” Circe flashed him a mischievous grin as she descended the stairs. Turning around, she watched Zeke taking his steps behind her and exclaimed boldly. “So you better prepare for it!”