Author's Notice: Okay I know that this is a few days late but I was on a family vacation over the past few days and got home at 6 am on Wednesday. So yeah I am now posting this however I do have two pieces of good news. One I have made a monthly goal for myself which is to get this book to 50 chapters by the end of the month of December and if I don't do it I will have to post a new chapter every day for a week and do some sort of other punishment that you guy can make up if you want.
Now the second good news is that I have a discord server started (Also my first time making one so will be improved over time) and the link for that will be at the end of the chapter in the Author's Thoughts. So hop on in and we can chat.
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Mike was walking down the road and was following the directions that Dike gave him before he left the inn. After navigating the streets of the town Mike is now standing in front of a large building that almost took over the entirety of the street. If Mike didn't know any better he would have assumed that this place was the Adventurers Guild building. Still going into the building Mike saw that the place was quite lively even though the people inside were all mainly wearing various animal furs and hunting gear was around the place.
The inside of the building was very spacious which was around 20 feet on either side with various doors that lead to different rooms and halls that led further into the building from the three other walls. Along the walls there numerous heads of animals that have been to taxidermy and were fitted to become a wall decoration. Some of the animals were common ones but there were a few weird looking animals and even a monster head. The monster head was something that Mike had never seen or heard of before in the various roleplaying games that he had played before but the thing still looked really cool.
The thing had bluish-green skin, an almost square forehead with a really fat chin, and a lot of sharp and jagged teeth that were in the eternal smile that some taxidermist thought would be funny to have it be that way, Mike could see no nose or ears on the face, the eyes of the monster were a milky white color that made Mike think that it was either blind or white was its natural eye color. The monster head was hanging over the centermost hallway and right before the head was a sign that Abbey said to read "Headmaster's area and other stuff"
So Mike walks down the hall and ends up at a counter with a receptionist. She was busy dealing with someone else so Mike just waits for a bit by going through the system to see how things are going on with his phoenix egg and looking at his current character stats.
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Name: Mike H. Briggs
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Age: 17
Main Class: None
Subclasses: None
Height: 5'11
Weight: 183.6lbs
Eye color: Brown
Color preference: Blue
----Stats----
Note: There are various other stats that are related to the ones below but shown below are the main stats
[Lvl 3]
Health: 40
Stamina: 30
Magic: 1
Strength: 7
Dexterity: 7
Constitution: 16
Charisma: 13
Intelligence: 20
Luck: 5
Negative effects: Spellcasting trouble [1 week]
Skills: Skill steal and Hard to Hit
Skill Pieces: Dual casting [3/1000]
Proficiencies: None
Unused points: 4
Experience: 650/1450
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"Wait what?" Mike mumbles as he looks at his system character stats
"Abbey, why do I have this negative effect?" Mike mumbles
"Hmm oh, you got that once you used Ice Blast too many times. As a result, all further spells will cause you to roll saves to make sure you can successfully cast the spell" Abbey replies
"Um, how high will I need to roll?"
"Well, you need to roll higher than 75 on a d100 to successfully cast a spell however there is a bit of good news that if you roll a 100 you can cast the spell but it will be boosted!" Abbey replies
"Well is there any way I can prevent this negative status from appearing again?"
"Yep just learn the Dual Casting Skill and you will be good to go" Abbey somehow makes a thumbs-up emoji appear in Mike's mind
He shakes his head a bit to clear that out and closes the system to see that the receptionist is almost done helping the gentlemen in front of him. A few moments later the gentlemen leaves and Mike takes his place.
"How can I help you, sir?" The receptionist asks
"Hi I am hoping to hire a hunter to help me with my quest," Mike says
"What kind of quest are you doing sir?"
"The quest is hunting down wolves in the forest and I would like someone to help me with that"
"Alright, then how much are you paying for this quest?" She inquires as she picks up a piece of parchment and quill
"5 silver for each wolf that they take down and 2 gold for joining in the hunt," Mike says
The receptionist jots down the given information and inquires where they should meet up so Mike gives the inn where he was staying. With that, the receptionist writes down the information before she places a wax seal at the bottom of the page and has it taken away by someone to be posted on the quest board.
With his purpose coming to the guild being done Mike leaves the Hunters Guild and heads back to the inn to wait at a random table on the first floor. Now Mike did not have the gold to pay to those who wanted to partake in the quest so Mike borrowed some money from Dike with the promise to pay him back when he got the chance. With nothing else to do Mike got a book about beginner magic from Dike to use and started to read about it. Skimming over the pages and only reading a few things about magic really opened his eyes to this world's standards of magic.
Apparently, magic users in this world are really hard to find and nourish. Apparently, most people were not born to use magic, and those that could use magic were few and far between. If you could use magic you and your family would be set for life as almost all kingdoms in this world would want to add them to boost their power and standing amongst their peers. Wizards were the most common form of magic user but they were the hardest to nurture due to the number of resources and time that it would take for them to be considered a military resource. Heck, the Ice Blast spell that Mike had learned would have taken around 6 months to a year for an average wizard to learn and it was just a Cantrip!
Seeing this Mike realized two things, one was that he needed to drawback on his learning bit to make sure that he does not learn a new spell instantly in front of someone random, and second, he should probably learn better spells. The one good thing that Mike read from the book was that there was a way that wizards improved the amount of mana that they have over time. They simply meditated and drew in mana from the world around them and over time that would improve their mana pool and replenish exhausted mana from casting their spells.
Reading this Mike found a solution to his mana problem but that was until Abbey hit him with some hard bad news.
"Oh um... big bro the system already draws in mana naturally so if you do meditate to absorb mana the effects of the meditation will be a lot less or none than other wizards" Abbey says
Hearing this Mike takes a few deep breaths and closes the book before putting it into his inventory to process what he just heard. Mike was not one to typically explode in anger but he really needed to beat the life out of something and the hunting quest that he was going to do would be the best way to blow off some steam. Mike waited for a couple of minutes just breathing and trying to keep things under control as he realized more and more how hard things were going to be in regards to magic since if he wanted to improve it he would have a harder time doing so.
Still, he could not be that mad as the system in itself is a cheat in that he can learn almost any spell in an instant and can cast it as long as he has the resources and mana to do so. Still, his mana could be considered to be empty as he only has one mana and unless the system was not acting like a greedy pig then maybe he could increase the mana that he has. Then again Abbey was kind enough to rectify the situation by telling Mike something else in regards to the system absorption.
"Okay I get that you are mad about that but there is a bit of good news"
"What?" Mike asks a little peeved
"Unlike regular magic users, you can meditate all the time since the system can absorb mana continuously you can take some of that mana all the time. It should be pretty easy to do really" Abbey replies as she sends another thumbs up into Mikes mind
Mike ponders over this for a bit since it would be nice to absorb mana all the time, unlike other wizards who need to stop what they are doing and spend hours at a time to meditate and see a change in their mana supply.
"Can I take in mana during spell casting?" Mike asks
"Yep but keep in mind it won't be that significant enough to really help you instantly, but if you were to battle someone for a long and I do mean long then you would be alright"
"How long would it take to increase my mana at least one point?" Mike asks
"Um... about a day"
"One day... for a single point..."
'Okay nevermind this sucks' Mike thinks
One day can increase his mana by a single point! there are 365 days in a year on Earth so going off of that then he will gain 365 mana points every year which is such a small number! Then again Mike does not know what the mana cost is for spells but even then if he were to learn higher-tiered spells then he would not be able to cast that many. Even with his systems helping him absorb mana in a fight it would still suck cause he would have to spend a day fighting in order to gain back a single point of mana. This was the worst, heck Mike didn't even know if his mana pool would increase if he had no mana in the pool. Would it just increase his points or would it increase both of them.
Seeing this predicament Mike made a vow that he had to find a way to either increase his absorption rate or mana pool from other means besides taking from the system. Mike would probably go to Dike to ask for an idea of whether this world even has items or other means of improving the mana pool of a wizard. Of course, Mike assumed that there were more frowned upon ways to improve his mana such as making a deal with a demon or devil and becoming a warlock in the process [1]. There were many things that Mike could do if he just referenced the countless amount of roleplaying games that he has partaken in then he might be able to do something about his lack of mana through such means.
As Mike was talking and raging about his mana predicament loud thumping can be heard from outside of the inn. Eventually, the thumbing stops but the fronts door window goes black as the sunlight is blocked from entering in. An audible crunch is heard as the door swings open inward and the door hand now looks terribly deformed as if crushed by some sort of great force. With the door open a very tall figure stoops under the door frame and enters the inn causing the other people in the inn to stop what they are doing and look at who it is.
The tavern is dead quiet but Mike is too preoccupied with Abbey and complaining about mana and magic to notice the tall figure who almost reaches the ceiling walking towards him from behind. Mike had taken a seat and his back was facing the door and he only noticed this tall figure when a looming shadow befell him causing him to turn around and look.
Before Mike can say anything a deep and guttural voice sounds out, "Are you the one who posted the wolf hunting mission?"
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(Okay I am going to sometimes add these [] whenever I am describing something and decide to give it an explanation at the end of the chapter in my own words I forgot about that when I posted the chapter the first time but now I am doing it)
1. Warlocks in the Dungeons and Dragons world are people who make contracts with otherworldly or stronger beings and can gain power through these contracts and borrow a few minor skills of the contracted being. Examples of such beings could be Cuthulu, strong enough Demons, or something similar. Deities or Gods are not the ones who are contracted as Warlocks are kind of evil depending on the contracted being they are with, plus the Gods are busy making paladins so why would they have time to make a warlock