After Mammon left the old man's house, he walked towards the barracks. His next intended step was to learn swordsmanship.
He didn't want to be a player who would rely solely on elements or materials; he wanted to master both attack and defense. He aimed to be adaptable to any scenario, and he was determined to achieve that goal, no matter what.
After walking for a while, he made it to the open gate and walked through it. Inside the yard were many training dummies and a few trainees, sparring tirelessly.
'Impressive,' he thought as he continued walking.
He looked around, searching for an instructor without success. He then approached the nearest trainee, who was striking a dummy fiercely.
"Uhm excuse me, sorry for the interruption. I'm a bit new here and I was sent on an errand by the librarian to retrieve an item from Veylin Ember, and I was hoping you could help me with his location." he said politely.
The trainee gave him a puzzled look before replying.
"Okay, well Sir Veylin doesn't like to be disturbed and I'm a little busy,"
'Sir Veylin, Fuck!' Mammon thought.
"Anything would do, please," Mammon begged.
"Okay," the trainee said as he described the location to Mammon.
"Thank you. I'll be on my way," Mammon said as he bowed slightly and hurried away to Sir Veylin's place.
"Weird kid," the trainee thought as he returned to striking two dummies at once.
After walking for few minutes, Mammon finally reached his destination. When he got there, he slightly knocked before he heard a reply.
"Who goes there?" the voice asked as it sounded tired.
"Uhm, I was told to retrieve a book from you Sir," he replied.
The door opened and a young man came out, looking haggard as he looked at Mammon warily before he continued talking.
"I haven't seen you around here, so who the heck are you?"
"I'm sorry, I'm new that's why. My name is…"
"Please, spare me the details. Old man Astranor would've sent you anyway since only he and I knew about the book. Here." He shoved the book into Mammon's hand as he continued.
"I just finished the book, and I look terrible. I haven't left my reading spot in five days. No food, no rest. I need to clean up and eat something worth five days. And don't get any ideas, if you try anything with the book, I'll hunt you down myself." With that, he turned to leave.
"Uhm, when can I meet you next?" Mammon asked.
That was when he remembered to check his info, and what he saw was shocking for starting point NPC's.
*Veylin Ember*
Level: 30
Grade: Rare
Class: ???
Health: 40'000/46'250
At least the option of trying to kill NPC's was ruled out; all these guys would wipe him out in seconds without breaking a sweat.
"What does that mean,"
"Uhm, I'm trying to learn swordsmanship and I'm sure that I'll learn better under your supervision.
Pfft.
"As if you could pose a challenge to me."
"Don't judge me by my looks, Sir; actions speak louder than words."
"Enough, now off you go. I have something important to do." he said as he closed the door.
Mammon shrugged as he turned leave and returned to the old man's abode.
'Old man Astranor...cool name'
As he walked, he decided to inspect the book.
Name: Hidden Magic Swordsmanship Skills
Grade: Skill Book
Available skills: 35.
Requirement: Level 30, 7500 Mana points.
"What the..."
He imagined how overpowerful he could become if he mastered any of those hidden skills.
Soon, he got to the library, and he knocked since the prompt had warned him of not reaching the requirement to enter the building.
"Who is it?"
"It is Mammon, wise one. I retrieved the book from Sir Veylin." he quickly answered.
Immediately he said that, the door unlocked on its own and slowly swung open. He walked inside at a quick pace as the door closed back.
As he got to the door filled with books, they did their previous motion, making way for him to pass through. He got to the old man who closed the book he was with and looked at Mammon.
"Here, is your book." He said, with a small bow.
"Ahh, thank you." the old man said as he collected the book from him and inspected it for a while before giving a satisfied look.
*Ding!*
*Quest completed*
*Attributing Rewards*
*Rewards: +5 reputation points with the old man. Knowledge Tree of magic Unlocked: First skills unlocked by default. You know possess the ability to produce 'produce basic elements' (Fire, Water, Wind and Earth)
Mammon sparked with joy as soon as he saw this, but his happiness was short-lived. Immediately, a pain surged through from inside his head.
"ARGH!!" he screamed as he collapsed on the floor, holding his head in pain.
"Stop screaming, you little fly, you are generating your mana heart. It will hurt a lot, but the pain will be worth it." The old man wore an almost sadistic smile.
It took a couple of minutes for the mana heart to finish generating. The pain went from a stab and banging to a soothing sensation as it went back to normal.
*Ding!*
*Mana Heart generated. 'Mana Heart lvl 1' gained*
"At least, a heads up would have been nice, old man" He grumbled.
"Ahahaha! Forgive me, I forgot." The old man chuckled.
"Now, will you teach me magic, wise one?"
"Call me Sir Astranor or simply Sir. And yes, I'll teach you the ways of magic." The book floated from his hands and rejoined the others on the shelves.
Astranor clapped his hands twice, and an underground chamber opened up, revealing a staircase leading down.
"Follow me," he said, descending.
Mammon followed. With each step, the pressure increased, but he refused to give up.
By the time Astranor reached the bottom, Mammon was only halfway down, and he was sweating buckets, but his resolve was hard as rock, and he continued walking.
When he finally reached the bottom, he collapsed, laughing with relief.
After a moment, he joined Astranor, who was meditating. After a while, Astranor broke the silence.
"Good job holding on." Astranor said.
"Thanks, but what was that about?"
"It felt like I was being crushed from both above and below." He added.
"Imagine oil on water. Now picture it trying to sink to the bottom," Astranor explained.
Mammon thought about it and nodded. "So, I'm like the oil?"
"Exactly. Now, let's begin your magic training. Are you ready?"
"Yes, I'm ready," He replied, putting on a bold face.