[Would you like to go over your rewards, master?]
"Sure, let's do it."
[On completion of the level-up quest, you gained 37 skill points. The bonus skill points quest also gave 37 skill points.]
"So the reward is double what I would normally acquire?"
[Yes, sir. Now with the item reward quest, you have to choose when to receive it.]
"Alright."
The system page popped up and under the item reward quest, there was a button to collect the reward. Without hesitation, I clicked the button and a bright golden flash blinded me.
I suddenly felt a weight in my hands and my eyes adjusted. In my hands was a small black box with a question mark on top.
[This is the item receival lottery box that will grant you a random item from the system.]
I raised the box and studied its surface. The material was soft but the box was sturdy.
"What kind of items will it give?"
[The item receival lottery chooses from any world that you have been to or interacted with. Right now this includes Earth, the Mortal Realm, the Mana Realm, Gym Earth, Izade, and Leía.]
"Izade?" I asked, confused.
[Hageshi's home planet.]
At the mention of his name, my expression fell. But, I didn't linger too long on those memories and continued.
"So there's a high chance I get something useless?"
[It is up to you to decide if they are useless or not. The system will only give items that make you more powerful, whether that be a sword or a protein shake.]
I hoped I would receive the latter. I've had enough protein shakes through Rex to last a couple of lifetimes.
"Here goes."
I carefully lifted the lid of the box and another gold light blinded me.
'Does it have to shine so bright?'
I could feel the box and the lid slowly dissipate and get replaced by something lighter. The blinding light slowly faded away and I opened my eyes. In my hands was a light pair of ordinary wireframe glasses.
"My vision feels fine enough, why do I need glasses?"
As I inspected them, a system window popped up in front of the glasses.
…
Item: Time Frames
Rarity: Unique
Description: The wearer of these glasses can see one second into the future.
…
The description nearly made my eyes roll out of my head. I read it over and over to make sure what I was reading was real.
'Something like this is beyond just powerful!'
I quickly put on the glasses and looked out the window. I looked down at the street and quickly noticed that everyone and everything that moved had a faint replica ahead of them. Down by a fruit market, a woman walked out carrying a bag. With my glasses, I could see the same woman further down the sidewalk have the bags she was carrying split open and all the fruit fall out onto the street. And then, one second later, the present version of the woman had the same thing happen to her.
My jaw hung open at the craziness of my situation. Every neuron in my brain was imagining the power of what these glasses could do. I took off the glasses and looked at them in shock.
"This is one hell of an item."
[Are you ready to receive your skill reward as well?]
I reigned in my surprise and put the glasses in my shirt pocket. "Yeah…"
[The reward for the random skill quest can be anything the system can offer, whether it's from the skill store or any of the skills from skill trees. Skills that require prerequisites will be excluded from the reward.]
"Sounds good, let's do it."
I clicked the 'Collect Reward' button underneath my last quest and suddenly, I could feel the mana surrounding me begin to converge toward me. A system description popped up, showing me what skill I had acquired.
…
Skill: Mana Leech
Price from Skill Store: 125 Skill Points
Description: Allows the user to absorb mana from anything within a certain radius. The radius and speed of absorption depend on Mana Control.
…
I quickly halted the flow of mana around me and stopped absorbing it. Anything higher than what I had now would overwhelm my body.
[This skill has the ability to absorb mana from anything around you, regardless of defenses that prevent it. Before, you were only able to absorb mana from the atmosphere, but now you can absorb it from anything and anyone.]
"Nice. That's very useful, especially against that dragon. If I could absorb the mana from its domain, then I could weaken it by a lot."
I played around with my new skill and discovered its limits. Currently, I could only absorb mana within a 2-meter radius and only recover around 1% of my reserves every 10 seconds. But that was soon to change.
"I've got 80 skill points now. That means I can finally upgrade to Proficiency 4 on one of my elements."
[Correct. But would you like to view the skills available in the Skill Store first before making any decisions?]
"Sure, it wouldn't hurt to look."
…
Skill Store:
Happy Hour – 50 Skill Points
[For one hour, every mana beast killed will reward skill points. The number of points depends on the beast's power. This skill is only available once per week.]
Crit Striker – 50 Skill Points
[With every attack, there is a 1% chance of landing a critical strike. Critical strikes deal 5x more damage than normal.]
Stamina Siphon – 50 Skill Points
[After killing a foe, stamina is restored by a certain amount. The amount depends on the strength of the foe.]
Last Chance – 75 Skill Points
[If the user is below 10% health, all attacks deal 2x damage.]
Copycat – 75 Skill Points
[By observing another party for a certain amount of time, the user can replicate any technique. Accuracy of copy depends on the amount of time observed.]
Underdog (Prerequisite: Crit Striker) – 75 Skill Points
[When fighting a stronger opponent, all attacks have a 10% chance of landing a critical strike.]
???
???
↓
…
I put my hand to my face in frustration. "How can I not think this is a game when these skills exist?"
[I apologize if the skills are lacking, master.]
I exhaled and let my negative feelings leave my body. "Sorry, Emy. The skills are fine. More than fine actually, they're borderline overpowered. And these are just the cheapest ones…"
I pondered for a while, thinking about my next purchase. The skills from the Skill Store were very useful, but I felt they were unneeded at this point in time.
"Unlock tier 4 of Mana Control."
[Commencing upgrade of -Mana Control- to tier 4 at the cost of 25 skill points.]
The familiar headache that I had grown used to pierced through my skull. But it was only brief and after, I could feel my new precision of control over mana.
"Now unlock Fire Proficiency 4."
[Commencing unlock of -Fire Proficiency IV- at the cost of 50 skill points.]
The fire mana inside me flared up and increased in strength. I could feel the warm sensation and hunger of the mana within me.
[At the unlock of tier 4 for any mana art skill tree, the domain spell will automatically be unlocked. The other 3 spells of that proficiency will remain 50 skill points.]
My lips slightly turned upward. "I wonder how I would fare against that dragon now?"
[If both you and the dragon mana beast have your domains active, my estimates say that you would be victorious. But that is only due to the advantage the fire element has over the wind element. If we only went by your power rankings then you would still be behind. You are currently at the peak of mid-tier A-rank, while the dragon is at peak high-tier A-rank.]
"That's good enough for me."
…
Over the next couple of hours, I tested my new abilities and messed around with my new Time Frames. As the sun began to set over the horizon, I saw myself looking at a notification on my watch through my glasses. And sure enough, there was a buzz from my wrist. I chuckled at the insane ability of my glasses and read the notification, even though I could already see it in my Time Frames.
'It's quite annoying to wear these normally.'
…
[The cafeteria on floor 50 is now open for dinner.]
…
I took off my glasses and clipped them to my shirt pocket. I got up from the couch in my living room and left the luxurious place that was my dorm.
As I neared the door, I could hear voices in the hallway.
"So, your mother managed to drag you out of the castle," said a deep male voice. "I never thought you would leave that place."
"Hmph. Don't talk to me like you know me, Faulkner," responded a sharp female voice. "Just because our parents are acquaintances doesn't mean we're friends."
The bickering in the hallway only served to annoy me.
'If you're going to argue, do it somewhere I can't hear it.'
I opened the door and walked out into the hallway and the arguing of the two immediately stopped. Down the hall was a beautiful girl with deep black hair and bright red eyes. She wore an annoyed expression and had on a black Victorian dress. Next to her stood a very tall boy with large muscles and insanely long, bright orange hair that reached his waist. He had an amused expression and wore fancy but simple white clothes accented with orange.
The boy's eyes examined me with a beast-like fervor. I could sense his heartbeat quickening and his feline-pupil eyes thinning.
"I never expected a human to take first in the exam," Faulkner said. "Especially one not of the Silvercrest family."
I ignored his comment and walked past the two. Faulkner's expression soured at my blatant disregard for his words and he reached out to take my arm.
"Hey, I'm talking to y–"
Before his hand could reach me, I disappeared from his sight and reappeared at the elevators further down the hall. Now inside, I pushed the button for the 50th floor and the doors closed in front of me.
Faulkner scowled. "That little shi–"
"Hold your tongue, cat," Kristine said, looking toward the elevators where the boy had just left with curiosity. "Don't curse in front of me so casually."
…
The elevator doors opened to the 50th floor, revealing a very large cafeteria with many tables for students to eat at. On the opposite side of the hall, there was a long line to pick up food.
'I'm late.'
"Excuse me, student."
A small woman with short black hair and glasses walked up to me from the right. It seems she was waiting for students to arrive.
"Here is your uniform for the academy," She said, handing me a bundle of white robes. "Wearing your uniform is mandatory at all times during the school year."
I took the clothes and thanked her. She smiled and bowed before returning to waiting for more students to arrive.
Turning back to the cafeteria, I headed to the back of the line and waited for my food like everyone else.
I observed the cafeteria and everyone in it. There seemed to be a mix of all years of students here eating together. I scanned the crowd for my sister but was disappointed to find she wasn't there.
Eventually, I reached the front of the line and grabbed a tray. Staff members handed out food portions behind counters and the line moved quickly. Once out of the line and with my tray full of food, I found an empty table near the far corner and sat down.
I could feel hundreds of eyes on me while I ate in silence but chose to ignore them. I knew that ranking first while being unknown by everyone here except my sister would draw a lot of attention, but with the rewards from the quests, I couldn't hold back.
Father was right. As I took the first bite of food on my tray I noticed the food here was very obscure. There was a decent amount of mana within it, but the taste wasn't very appetizing. This only served to make me appreciate good food even more.
As I was shoveling down the bland but nutritional food, a small girl wearing a large, white hooded robe sat at the far end of my table. Her tray was only filled with a small amount of food and her movements reminded me of a scared mouse. Her face was mostly covered but her white hair flowed out of her hood and over her shoulders.
I sent a slight amount of mana to my eyes and used a subtle mana vision to observe her. I was shocked to find a very dense and strong amount of ice mana within her. But my surprise only increased when I saw her mana slowly travel around her body, effectively making her stronger without wasting any mana at all.
'I must have glossed over her at the entrance exam. I've never seen someone with mana this… natural…'
Even though her reserves made her a mid-tier B-rank, I could tell her mana was very powerful.
"D-Do you need s-something, sir?"
The small girl's quaint and quiet voice reached my ears. Realizing I had been staring too much, I dropped my mana vision and apologized.
"I'm sorry," I said, embarrassed. "It's just that I've never seen mana like yours before. It's quite captivating."
Unbeknownst to me, the cheeks of the girl started to turn a bright red. "C-Captivating? Why would my m-mana be captivating?"
"Unlike everyone else, your mana actively supports you on its own. I've never seen anything like it."
The girl squirmed in her seat, uncomfortable with my words, which I noticed.
"Sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable," I apologized again. I stood up from my seat with my now empty tray. "I'll leave you alone."
Before the girl could say anything else, I left the table and took my empty tray back to a stack of them near where we received our food. I then left the cafeteria with a thoughtful expression.
'Interesting… I wonder if I can do that with my mana?'