Back Already?

Jimmy had already passed the first threshold of level 10 when he killed the boar, and now with the extra stat points from the quest he had to decide how he wanted to allocate his free points.

~

Jimmy Green [Lvl 12]

Alignment: [Neutral]

Titles-

[Basic Spearman]

[Basic Mana Manipulator]

Abilities-

[Enhanced strike]

Stats- [Unallocated Points: 110]

[Strength 30]

[Endurance 40]

[Dexterity 14]

[Agility 54]

[Magic 61]

~

He looked over his stats and started thinking about how he wanted to distribute his points. Every level he got 10 points, and every 10 levels he would get an additional 100 points, making it 200 total every 10 levels. Seeing as it was an even number, he could allocate the 100 bonus points the same as regular levels.

Jimmy preferred a more agility base form of combat, so he wanted to include agility as one of his main stats. At the same time, he seemed to be talented in mana manipulation, so he also wanted magic to be one of the main stats he put points into.

In the end, he decided on putting 1 point into strength, endurance, and dexterity per level. These would be his minor stats.

As for his main stats, he would put 3 points per level into agility and magic.

After allocating his points a wave of energy rushed through his body. Every time he raised his stats he felt an addictive sensation of power. He had to push down the feeling, not wanting to get drunk on it.

After stabilizing himself he waited by the side for his friends to finish turning in their mission. They had cleared a quest to exterminate a small camp of goblins just before running into Jimmy.

After a few minutes, he saw them walk over and asked, "Are you guys ready to meet my teacher? She can be pretty overwhelming."

Kevin pumped his fists said, "If she can teach us how to use mana and increase our stats, I wouldn't even care if she was a gorilla!"

Jimmy shook his head but didn't say anything, he figured he would just let nature take its course at Kevin's expense.

They arrived outside the dojo and Jimmy braced himself before opening the door. He had to mentally prepare himself for death.

He steeled his resolve and opened the door, stepping inside.

Jimmy quickly spotted his sensei, and they quickly made eye contact. He started to say, "Hey Sensei, I'm ba-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence before he was picked up by his shoulders and shaken like a ragdoll.

"Your back already eh!?!?!?!? What was the point of that emotional sendoff them you little punk?!" Emelia barked.

Meanwhile, the three waiting at the door were dumbstruck for the third time that day. They were not expecting such a strange scene to play out at all.

Kevin, without thinking of the consequences at all, blurted out, "She really ended up being a gorilla!"

Jimmy thanked Kevin for his sacrifice in his heart as he was dropped back to the ground.

Sweat dripped down Kevin's back and forehead as a chill went down his spine. He quickly realized his mistake as he was viciously mauled by a wild animal.

A couple of seconds later Kevin was face-first on the ground. Even his bruises had bruises. He barely managed to stand back up, albeit with shaky legs.

Emelia calmed down after venting her rage and turned back to face Jimmy.

"So I am guessing you made enough money to cover the fee?" She asked.

Jimmy brought out five silvers and said, "Yes sensei. I originally wanted to spend a bit more time doing missions before coming back but I ran into some of my friends, and they wanted me to introduce them to your dojo. They all want to sign up to become students."

Emelia sized up the three applicants, and her demeanor switched serious mode. She said, "So you guys want to join?"

All three of them felt a massive amount of pressure, her sharp gaze making them instinctually afraid. They quickly said, "Yes!"

They were all cringing at having to spend almost all their money, but each of their eyes contained a glint of excitement. All three of them paid the fee and became official students of the training hall.

A shadow flickered past and ran straight into Jimmy. Emelia's daughter, Eta, hugged Jimmy and shouted, "You're back!"

Jimmy sighed and patted her head as he said, "Yes Eta, I ended up coming back early."

He pried her off of him and introduced her to the three looking at them.

"This is sensei's daughter, Eta. She is also a student here."

Eta stood there with a haughty attitude, not really interested in the new arrivals.

Chad and Sasha thought Eta was adorable and politely introduced themselves.

Kevin introduced himself but he did not agree with the others, he was quite annoyed by Eta's attitude. He didn't realize that Eta was indifferent due to seeing them as weak. He thought that she was just a spoiled brat.

Jimmy recognized the look on Kevin's face and decided to spare him the embarrassment, feeling Kevin had been beaten enough for one day.

"Eta is actually a prodigy at mana manipulation, she could probably beat any of you three in a fight. I don't recommend picking a fight with her." He said.

The three of them were skeptical about this and looked at Emelia for confirmation.

"It's true, she could mop the floor with you guys. The only person more talented than her is Jimmy here." She said with a doting look on her face.

Eta had a smug look on her face as she heard the compliments, but Jimmy just ignored her. He had gotten used to Eta's personality.

"Sensei, my friends want to learn how to control mana. Could you teach them the same way you taught me?" Jimmy asked.

Emelia nodded her head and looked at the three.

"I can teach you how to control your mana, but don't go expecting to easily learn it like Jimmy did, he is an outlier. It could take hours to learn how to even sense your mana, and weeks if not months of training to even use your mana for basic enhancement. Are you willing to put in the effort?" She asked them.

All three of them shouted, "Yes sensei!"

Emelia flashed a fierce smile and said, "That's the spirit!"

She looked at Chad and inspected him for a second before asking, "You're a paladin right?"

Chad had a look of surprise on his face before saying, "Yes sensei, I am. How did you know?"

Emelia scoffed and said, "You reek of divine power, paladins and priests always emit noticeable energy to anyone who has keen senses. But this is a problem, paladins often have a much harder time controlling their own mana. The divine mana in your body granted by whatever god you serve will mask your own mana flow, making it extremely difficult to detect and manipulate. Do you still want to try?"

A frown appeared on Chad's face when he heard this. He didn't expect his class to pose a problem.

He quickly regained his determination, not wanting to hold back his friends. He was never afraid of hard work before anyways.

"I will try my best sensei." He replied.

"Ok then, all three of you sit down in whatever position you find most comfortable and close your eyes," Emelia instructed.

They did as they were told and got into position. Jimmy and Eta watched from the side.

Emelia saw the two bystanders and shouted, "If you two have time to watch then go train!"

"Yes sensei!" The two said before going to do their own training.

Half an hour went by and the first of the three managed to sense their mana for the first time. Out of the three, only Sasha had an easy time sensing her mana.

Sasha was shouting in happiness in her mind, but her outward appearance remained the same except for a tiny smirk.

Kevin and Chad were both making next to no progress with sensing their mana. Kevin did not have the talent for it, and Chad had conflicting energy masking his own mana.

An hour passed and neither of them made much progress at all.

Chad was already expecting it to be difficult and didn't let his slow progress bother him. He knew he would have to work hard to sense his mana.

Kevin was starting to get frustrated. Unlike Chad, who expected it to be more difficult, he was cursing himself for being so much slower than Sasha and Jimmy.

After three hours passed, Kevin finally broke through and managed to barely sense his mana. He collapsed to the ground in a sweaty mess.

Chad still wasn't having much luck in sensing his mana. Whenever he focused on the inside of his body all he could feel was the holy energy flowing through his body. Trying to find his own mana flow was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

He decided to stop for the day and try again the next day.

Emelia had been watching from the side the whole time and was not very surprised about the results. Manipulating and sensing mana is not easy, so she expected them to struggle. She was pleasantly surprised by Sasha's performance, however.

"Good job Sasha, you've got a lot of potential in mana control." Emelia praised.

She then looked at the other two and said, "You two don't need to feel too down on yourselves, especially you Chad, mana control is not easy at all. Not everyone can be a monster like Jimmy."

Jimmy had just finished his training for the day and happened to overhear what Emelia was saying. He had a disgusted look on his face and thought to himself. 'The pot sure is calling the kettle black!"

Not that he dared to voice his complaints.