He trekked the spiraling staircase for a whole minute before he had entered into a shockingly massive room.
Rows after rows of extremely tall bookshelves were occupying the whole room.
Each of these bookshelves contains a seemingly endless amount of neatly arranged books.
These bookshelves were divided into skill class areas such as the Warrior Skill Area, Archer Skill Area, Devout Skill Area, Psychic Skill Area, and many more...
He walked down the golden aisle of the library and entered the Warrior Skill Area, he chose a random book from the random bookshelf that he had found.
The book wasn't thick nor large, it was red in color and its cover had large words of [ Sword Pounce ], below that name were the introduction of the book.
[ Pounce an enemy in a short distance and deal physical damage as well as a small chance to inflict stun on the target. ]
It was short and concise, it directly stated the description of the skill.
He placed the book back to its position, left the Warrior Skill Area, and went straight to the Spell Caster Skill Area.
The area had numerous tall bookshelves that contained books of varying colors, he chose a random bookshelf and found that the shelf contained the basic skills of spell casting.
He spent some time choosing the skills he wanted to learn and only decided to learn five skills that were called [ Mana Manipulation ], [ Mana Blast ], [ Mana Surge ], [ Mana Shield ], and lastly [ Fireball ].
The skills with mana on their names were the fundamental spells that a spell caster should learn while the fireball spell could be used as his primary attack method.
He did not dare to have any thoughts on other super-advanced spells as he might've ended up regretting it because of his greed.
He should first build his foundation and slowly learn the most basic skills and only advance after gaining enough mastery over the basic skills that he has.
He knew that Mages were highly loved by the mana energies and they could even control and utilize them to use however they want.
They are also known for their adept skills that involved with the use of mana energy, they are able to convert their mana energy to the type of elements that they like.
He had also read from the information that he received that when Mages grow to a certain extent, they would be able to advance to become what the people usually call Specialized Mages.
These Specialized Mages are those that we call Hydromancers, Pyromancers, Geomancers, and many more.
These mages would then be able to upgrade their skills that would suit their corresponding affinity.
For example, if a mage had successfully become a < Pyromancer > and have complete mastery over their spellcasting skills, they would be able to upgrade these skills to suit their needs.
Let's say a max level [ Mana Blast ], < Pyromancers > would receive the option to evolve this skill to become [ Fire Blast ] or [ Magma Blast ], or even [ Hellfire Blast ].
They would be able to upgrade their skills as long as that < Pyromancer > have attained the various prerequisite to evolve the skill.
The first requirement for evolution is the complete mastery of the said skill, the second would be the corresponding upgraded spellbook, while the third requirements are usually random.
The < Pyromancer > would either need to procure fire monster carcass, herbs of the fire elements, and many more.
There are also some risks involved when upgrading a skill that only the mage undergoing the process knows.
He had not even managed to learn his first skill much less know the risks of upgrading the skill.
Thus, he should take things more slowly as being hasty would usually result to bad or even severe consequences.
***
He carefully chose among the 5 skillbooks that he has and finally chose the [ Mana Manipulation ] skillbook.
He opened it and instantly receive a notification.
[ You have opened the skillbook with average mathematical difficulty. ]
[ You have been allocated 60 seconds to solve the problem. ]
The mathematical problem was then shown in front of him, the problem wasn't too hard and it was a midgrade problem at most.
[ Timer starts in 3...2...1... ]
He was confident that he would be able to solve this in the allocated time given by the shop.
The timer started and a mini whiteboard appeared in front of him which he immediately used to write various mathematical equations.
He was using his left index finger to write, his writing speed extremely fast while his handwriting remained clean and vigorous.
The timer had already reached 30 seconds when he finished solving the problem.
He was extremely confident with his answer and thought that it was perfect and even the application of his formulas was perfectly applied.
The whiteboard was washed with a blue transparent light as if it was scanning the answer he had written on it.
The verification process did not take too long as he heard a clear and pleasant ding coming out from the whiteboard.
He then received a notification.
[ You have received the item as a result of correctly answering the item's given question. ]
The book that was silently floating in front of him suddenly melted and became a river of bright stars that continuously flowed and entered his head through his glabella.
The feeling was quite weird, to say the least, it was pleasant and refreshing at the same time.
Not long later he received a notification.
[ You have learned a new skill! Check the skill panel for more details. ]
After fully absorbing the book he suddenly felt an additional knowledge in his mind.
He could think of it instantaneously and it felt natural as if he had learned the skill through studying for hours.
He carefully felt the newfound knowledge in his mind and he had immediately thought of the detailed explanation of the skill and its related fundamentals.
It explained things to him such as how to effectively manage the mana energy around the user, how to establish connections with the mana, how to control, etc...
Though these information appeared a bit complicated and vague to him now, he thought that maybe it's because he still had not managed to familiarize himself with the skill.
He opened his game panel and clicked the skill panel that had a red number (1) above its icon.
The newly learned skill was immediately shown to him and he clicked on it to examine the skill's full details.
[ Mana Manipulation ] [ ☆ ]
[ Skill Type: Passive | Skill Level: 0 ]
[ Description: A utility skill which allows the user to effectively manipulate and utilize the mana energy near them. ]
>> SKILL EFFECTS <<
[ INT +5 ]
[ MP +1% ]
[ MP Regeneration +5% ]
>> SKILL UPGRADES <<
[ Skill Level Upgrade: 1 SP ]
[ Random Effect Upgrade: 1 Mana Stone (Low) ]
[ The usage of 1-star spells has been unlocked. ]
He was gobsmacked by the sudden appearance of the stars in the skill and he thought to himself in confusion.
'Why is there a star in the skill? I had also unlocked the usage of 1-star spells, what does that mean?'
He had no idea what these stars do and serve to him as a player, were they the representation of a skill/class' rankings?
When he was fighting the Water Snakes in the cave before, he had received a notification that he had learned a new skill but it did not have a star beside it.
He had also received a skill from Undine but it didn't have a star beside it as well and only this newly learned skill has one.
He was in utter confusion when he suddenly received a notification.
[ You have received the temporary assistance of the shopkeeper. ]
A cute and small boy had suddenly flown down from who knows where.
It was a little boy who had a height that reached Mirage's waist, he has short silver hair that shines with a brilliant luster.
The boy had a pair of golden eyes that brightly twinkled like a pair of small golden stars.
He had cute and chubby cheeks that look soft and squishy to touch, Mirage was even tempted to squeeze those squishy cheeks.
The little boy had an immature face and yet he wore a cold and aloof expression as if all living beings are beneath him.
Did he want to intimidate people? Maybe, but he did not even have an ounce of intimidating effect, it instead made him look much adorable that could steal the hearts of people with his sheer cuteness.
Mirage was carefully scrutinizing this little boy when the boy had suddenly opened his mouth and said in a cold and emotionless voice.
"Congratulations on receiving your first item in my shop."
His voice was cute but his tone was not cute at all but he did not react much to this, he was silently waiting for the little boy to continue.
The little boy saw this thus he continued.
"You have been granted the temporary assistance of the Player Shopkeeper, you can consider my assistance as a class change reward from the game system."