As he remembered, the tutorial was an easy one. He just had to show he could use the normal attacks and the charged ones. To perform the charged ones, he had to take a little bit of time to gather the mana on his wand and create an orb. The normal attack shot non-elemental attacks that caused physical damage while the charged one did double the damage but it had to take a while to perform.
Stephen pointed his wand forward and focused on gathering the mana into a non-elemental orb that had the color of grey. He shot it forward and it hit a tree causing a small hole. For a veteran player, Stephan found the damage low and it was concerning. The tutorial showed how weak he was.
One thing that was going to be hard to get used to was the whole premise of magic in Masmoenia. If he were to talk about superhuman powers, the Earth didn't have anything like that. That was where games came into existence. They were there to make humans a little bit stronger and make their fantasies come true.
Stephan pinched his cheek once again causing pain. The sensation made the whole thing again so real. On Earth, the games made it easier to use magic and all supernatural powers in the fantasy world they built. However, in Masmoenia, magic users or anyone holding some kind of power should learn how to condense and utilize the innate energy that they had in their bodies. It was like a muscle. Repeatedly gathering the mana particles and using it by pushing the body over the limit to make the mana pool wider, in other words, Stephan had to train hard to reach what he wanted. The system wouldn't provide him the simplicity of the games.
Obviously, Stephan didn't know that. He only believed that the system would provide him with everything. Little did he know that the abilities he used at the moment were Maddock's original ones.
"Great, the system will make everything easy like in those games I played. I will have one easy way to grow in this world and judging from all the books I read, I will dominate this world. Hahahaha!"
In this world, the mana existed in the atmosphere and also in all creatures. Thus, magic-users, since everyone could be one according to the talent the body possessed, would use the surrounding mana and draw it inside their bodies, ultimately condensing it and pushing it into the mana pool. The latter was given a name as mana core. It stocked the amount of mana the body could hold and sent it to the veins in case the users wish for it.
"Oh, so how come the mana regenerates?"
The original source of the mana was the heart of all being and also the planet. However, the human heart didn't have the ability to produce enough mana amounts in a short amount of time. It usually needed a lot of time for full recovery and the time extended when the mana pool was wider. Generally, dragons were the ones providing the world with the most mana since their hearts were like a natural engine producing a lot of mana that their mana core was filled and there was no place to store the rest.
The bigger the cup, the more it could hold, and the more time it could take to fill, right?
However, the amount of mana a core could hold wasn't enough to prove the prodigy of the individual. Some mages could use their existing mana effectively and still reach the goal at sight.
Stephan kept reading the explanation the system provided about mana in Masmoenia and suddenly a book popped out from thin air. It was dark but the book cover was visible to his eyes. He stared at it for a few minutes before speaking. There was the drawing of a child wearing a mage clothes or more like a chibi.
"How come I see a chibi here? That woman, I am a mature adult but still…" he kept staring at the chibi finding it cuter the more he looked at it. Then there was the title of the book: mana for beginners.
Flip!
He opened the book and found another drawing poorly made. It looked like a child did it and the writing was horrible but still readable. There was a drawing of a child trying to meditate but Stephan couldn't understand what it was; he thought the boy wanted to be in the toilet. There was a small explanation of why the mana existed in the air.
Flip!
{What is the strongest force on Masmoenia? Obviously, it's love. When you love someone, you tend to do the impossible to protect him. So find someone to protect to become stronger… A funny joke!! So how to expand the mana core? Just grab the body and stretch it to expand… Another joke!}
Stephan thought there would be something interesting to learn there and he still kept some hope. He flipped the page again and saw another draw. There was a thick line in green with a mage the hand was like holding the thick line like a stick. At first, it looked like a long sceptre but with the many badly drawn kids holding money to the mage holding the line. It looked like a pole dance. On top of it was a small explanation.
{You can check shops with materials to grow stronger. Anyone can go buy materials from the mages in popular shops in cities. Offering money is a must!}
The thick line that looked like a pole was a counter and the place was a shop.
"This is another joke from the devil in disguise. She draws like a toddler. Even I with my inflexible fingers in drawing can do a better job."
Finally, Stephan looked annoyed and let the book fall from his hands. He stared at it for a while before stomping it hard. He kept stomping it until a notice appeared on the floating window.
[At least, I don't talk to myself like a nerd.]
Touché!
The voice spoke in his head like usual, coming abruptly disturbing his thoughts. It caught him off-guard, which made his jaw gap. The gravity of the ground pulled his mouth down and it was one heartless b*tch making him lose his cool in front of that pervert called the devil in disguise.
"I don't keep tabs on someone from a distant dimension. I should call you a perfect stalker and it's creepy," he lifted his head and pushed his chest out.
[You should widen your circle and search for people; being a shut-in is no good.]
"To your brain, I had over a thousand friends on Facebook so you can't really say I was alone. Furthermore, aren't you the same?"
[Still, you never met one of them I bet.]
"That's the beauty of it! Till when you are intending to follow me around?"
[The tutorial ending! Unfortunately, I am stuck into knowing how a veteran like you will succeed in the tutorial stage I modified. Think about it! This is the official version of the game! It's not Beta anymore.]