The next day I go through the daily routine like usual, but I don't practice the spells, or use any to spar with Garbhan.
After another painful sparring session, I bring the training dummy out to the apple tree so I can immediately rest after focusing on my Tier 2 spells, because they take longer than the previous tier to level.
After running out of mana, I once again sit in the lotus position, since it worked last time and let the remaining mana I have flow through me.
I decide to focus on my mana and mentally command it to refill faster. Nothing happens, not as easy to figure out as mana sensing.
I try many different ideas for the next 2 hours to no avail. I tried letting the mana flow through me faster, I tried asking it nicely to refill faster, and I even tried to reverse the flow.
I have one last idea before giving up, and let my mana flow through my body once again.
I pull up my status and focus on the mana bar and imagine it gaining mana faster.
[Unlocked Skill: Mana Regeneration Tier 1- You regenerate mana at a faster rate. Casting spells or having a spell active stops regeneration. Passive-: Your mana regenerates 5% faster]
I actually didn't expect that to work, but I'm glad it did as I finally got the skill. A notification suddenly appears before my eyes.
[You have received a message from Ordinus, creator of the system. Do you want to view? Yes/Yes]
I should have expected something unexpected to happen after unlocking a skill as it's been the norm so far. Why would this time be different?
I have no choice but to confirm to view the message and I feel myself getting teleported elsewhere.
I blink and I'm now standing on literal clouds, I couldn't see a sun, but it was bright.
Taking a look around I see a man in a white suit with purple hair, his back to me.
Knowing this was another god, the creator of the system no less, I approach carefully, not knowing his intentions.
He turns around to reveal a man who looked to be in his early twenties wearing glasses and a clean shaven face.
"Welcome Eric, after your recent feat I had to meet the one who is running circles around my carefully planned system.
Even made me do an update for you, although that wasn't your fault. That being said, you found a loophole in the system once again. You weren't supposed to earn skills, especially Mana Regeneration, in that manner."
"I needed that skill to get stronger. I'm not intentionally trying to cause you trouble."
"Oh, you're not in trouble Eric. I brought you here to thank you actually.
You see, my area of expertise is knowledge. Deaths little project has yielded some compelling subjects over the years, but you fall into one of the more intriguing ones.
You provide me with valuable knowledge, effectively improving my system in ways I could have never seen beforehand.
Alas, my prior notable achievement was giving mortal kind the system centuries ago, and you could stay that I have grown stagnant.
The appeal of being the god of knowledge is lost as you know everything, until a couple of months ago I've received an error code I've never seen before from the system.
Observation of you for the next days was required before I could resolve the issue. Thinking that my work was done, I went back to brooding, until just a moment ago, I received another notification of another issue.
Now for those who find loopholes in the system, I'm supposed to 'correct' them and make them try it the normal way.
But you're unique that even if I did that, you would simply find another loophole.
So I decided that in the future, should you find any more loopholes or cheats in the system and get a reward for it, it's yours to keep."
Basically, he was giving me the giving me the go ahead to play test his updates system. I bowed, " Thank you oh gracious one, I will continue to use your system in your honor."
"Ok for future reference, just a 'Thank you sir' will suffice." I blink and I'm in the lotus position back under the apple tree.
I notice that my mana is back at full, so I spam my Tier 2 spells again. Satisfied with today's events, I go back in the cottage to start dinner.
Another week passes by just like that and the sparring sessions have really helped level my understanding of using daggers.
I learned in one-on-one duels, two daggers are unnecessary, it was better to start with one then pull the second when needed.
Like Garbhan mentioned, the daggers I had were better at deflecting attacks, then countering by slashing nearby weak points.
I also found that using only the Blessing of the Elk was good in the spars.
I should only use all three blessings in short moments against higher level opponents to maximize mana usage and prolong the fight in my favor with the Harrowing Curse perk.
I was cleaning the pots and plates from breakfast as Garbhan approaches me.
"Your father finished the sage armor that you were supposed to get.
He modeled it after Assassin's, because you use daggers to make your class look as such."
He hands me a box with a card attached to it.
"I was waiting on this before deciding that you're ready to get some monster combat experience. Meet me outside when your ready to go to a dungeon for training." I run up the stairs and read the note.
"Glad to hear that you're fine, this will help you stay that way. Good fortune on you son."
I put on the armor and look in the mirror, and realized I looked fucking badass.
It was entirely black with a hood, light metal plating covering the chest, shoulder and arms.
Over my right shoulder was a drape that went further down my right arm. It came with matching boots and I put a grey undershirt underneath the armor. As I was wearing the armor, a notification came up.
[From wearing the Sage Armor set you have unlocked the following spell, Curse of Magic Disruption Tier 1 - Affected targets spells take 10% more mana to cast. While wearing you gain a +150 boost in Health and Mana.]
I grab my daggers and take one last look at myself before heading out the door, excited at fighting monsters.