Perks of being First

Looking at the forge in front of him, Jason couldn't help but feel giddy inside. 'This is one quality forge!' He thought to himself.

He saw a pile of metal scraps on the side, gathered them together and placed them in a mold to melt them down into raw material for forging.

In his past life he had always been a fanatic about forging. There was just something about the process of forging something misshapen and raw into a deadly force of nature, or even a fortress to protect the soft flesh, that brought joy to his life. There was something beautiful and deadly that came from creating through the forge.

When he had the spare time to forge, he would; but he hardly ever had extra time as he was always striving to reach the next level of strength.

The main reason Jason wanted to forge his own gear right now was because he knew that he needed quality gear that he could trust, not the left-over rusty gear that the Adventurers guild was handing out to the new Users. The gear they gave was better for nothing more than learning how to wield weapons and practice new skills.

After Jason poured the molten iron into bar shaped molds, he received a notification before his eyes.

[System Message – detected that user is beginning forging process, would user like to use system generated guidance to forge?]

"No."

Jason already knew the steps of forging by heart, so he had no need for the systems help. He knew he was missing one crucial factor that dictated whether his items would be above the basic tier, and that was mana manipulation.

Mana was the essence of the universe, an essence that was inside every molecule that gave structure and order to all things. Sensing this mana was the first step to manipulating it, and as one gained greater proficiency in sensing mana and manipulating mana, they would gain greater control over the universe. This was how one would begin to form spells and control different skills.

Mana Sense was the first skill that every user would learn from a trainer. The majority of Users would then be able to use this skill in conjunction with incantations or specific movements to cast their spells and skills.

On the other hand, Mana Manipulation is one step higher than Mana Sense. If obtained and mastered, a User would be able to manipulate mana and the elements at will and the higher the proficiency of this skill was the higher their control.

While he waited for the molten iron to cool, he sat down on the cold hard ground. He stilled his mind and focused on his surroundings, breathing in and out.

He sat there like this for about an hour clearing his mind of all distractions, using all his senses to observe the world around him. His body slowly and gradually relaxed enough to a point to where he was able to sense the flow of mana in his body.

He allowed his body to familiarize itself with this feeling, before gradually searching for this same feeling outside of his body.

Opening his mind to observe the universe outside of him, he could sense faint wisps of mana swirling around. As he focused on this mana, he received a ding from The System.

[System Message – User has learned mana sense. Adding skill to interface.]

[System Message – Since user learned mana sense without any guidance from a trainer or The System, 15 experience points added.]

[System Message – 15/10 Experience points, User may now increase level.]

At this moment Jason felt that he could easily sense the mana around him even without focusing like he had been before. He smiled and clenched his fist, overjoyed at his success. Coming out of his hyper-focused state he opened his eyes to see the dwarf sitting on the floor a few feet in front of him.

"Just learned mana sense, eh? And without any guidance, you're a special one aren't ya?" Muttered the dwarf, surprisingly not as drunk as before as he stood up and walked back to the table with empty beer bottles on it.

Jason didn't respond as he wondered what the dwarf meant by that. 'Special as in stupid or special as in a prodigy?'

He looked over at the molds to see that they were cold and hard now. He tried to guess at how much time he had spent trying to learn that skill, but quickly gave up and called up his interface.

[System Message -

User: Thanataion

Level: 0

Experience: 15/10

Titles: None

Class: None

Race: Human

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 11

Constitution: 11

Intelligence: 11

Will: 17

Vitality: 33

MP: 340

Resistances: None

Proficiencies: None

Skills: Mana Sense – 1/10 (Beginner)

Inventory: 8 Silver]

'Yep, this is about where I was the last time I started the game. Except my will stat is a lot stronger. This must have something to do with me being reborn to this past life.'

Jason longingly looked at the experience points he had gained. What he could do now was increase his skill mana sense, but he decided to hold off on that for the moment. He really wanted to be able to use them right now to level up but unfortunately, he was unable to at the moment due to him not having a class.

'Well, that's why I'm here.' He looked at the iron ingots and sat back down going back into his meditative state. He had to do this correctly from the beginning.

Now that he had learned Mana Sense, he looked inside himself feeling the mana infused in every part of his being. He focused on his right hand to make things easy on himself and began to will the mana from outside his body to flow towards his hand, forcing it inside.

This was a skill that took many people months to obtain, and years to master. You were considered to have a high talent in magic if you could obtain this skill within a week and master it within 2 years.

Jason was confident of obtaining the skill now; he already had the knowledge from his past life. Now he was only re-teaching his body how to manipulate mana.

At first nothing happened, but as Jason simulated the feeling of mana manipulation he had in his past life, things quickly changed.

Jason could sense the mana pause as it flowed through the air, then rush into his hand. He then focused on retaining that mana, causing that mana to strengthen his hand.

A slight sheen appeared on his hand at this moment, shining for the world to see.

[System Message – Skill Mana Manipulation learned. Skill Iron First learned.]

[System Message – Congratulations, you are the first User to learn Mana Manipulation, gained Unique Title: Mana Guru.]

[System Message – Mana Guru: Reduces Mana Consumption by 50%]

[System Message – Iron Fist: increase density of fist. +50% base damage when attacking with the fist. +3 Defense Points to fist area. Fist has same characteristics as iron while skill is active. Mana Consumption – 1 point per second.]

Jason smiled; he had no idea that being the first to learn Mana Manipulation would give him so many rewards. All he wanted was the mana manipulation so he could input mana into his tools and the iron as he forged so he could have a guaranteed uncommon equipment.

As he stood up and stretched, he heard a loud crash from behind him. Turning around he saw the dwarf on the ground prostrate as if he had fallen out of the chair he was sitting in. The dwarf was staring dumbfoundedly at Jason's hand which still had a slight sheen to it.

"Y-y-y-y you learned Mana Manipulation just now?" The dwarf stuttered as with wide eyes he looked at Jason. "I-I-I-I impossible!"

Jason just shrugged and turned around and went to go pick up an ingot. He walked over to the still burning forge and injected his mana into it using mana manipulation, making the fire immediately flare up and increase in temperature drastically. Still carrying the iron ingot in his iron fist hand, he placed it into the forge; not even feeling the heat.

'I'll start with a shield. It's hard to mess that up.' He went back to obtain 4 more ingots out of the 7 he had made. He placed those in the furnace alongside the other ingot. He then directly input 10 experience points into mana manipulation.

[System Message – Mana Manipulation is now at Intermediate.]

As he increased the temperature of the fire, he also urged the mana in the ingots to flow towards each other. As he was doing this, he could see his mana in his interface decreasing rapidly, but he pushed on.

A few minutes later the iron had lit up brightly, and instead of multiple ingots it was now one larger piece of metal.

Jason then used Iron Fist on both hands and carried the lump of bright iron to the anvil. He then picked up a hammer, willed his own mana into the hammer, and commanded the ambient mana to enter his arm.

[System Message – Skill Mana Strengthening learned]

[System Message – Mana Strengthening – Increase strength through mana]

Not even noticing the messages, he began to shape the metal with his hammer. Each of his blows was placed exactly where he wanted, and with each blow he would send his mana from the hammer into the shield.

BANG-BANG-BANG

Jason focused intensely as he shaped the shield to the image in his head. Each blow moved the metal and mana, and Jason's own mana quickly became infused into the shield.

BANG-BANG-BANG

With each strike the shield quickly formed into a Heater Shield.

After Jason had obtained the shape he wanted for the shield, he then set it aside as he placed another ingot inside the forge. After waiting for a bit, allowing his mana to recover, he took it back out and cut it in half lengthwise and shaped it into handles and attachment points for the shield.

He then put the shield, handle, and attachment points all into the forge at once and manipulated the fire to increase its heat at each of the points he desired. Manipulating the mana once more, he influenced the metal in those locations to become one. After he had succeeded, he heated the whole of the heater shield waiting for the shield to turn bright once more before swiftly picking it up and dunking it in the oil cooling vat.

Steam and fire leaped out of the bin as the raging metal quickly cooled. After it had cooled, he took it out and examined it. Searching for any warping or cracks, which after diligently searching, he found none.

Nodding with satisfaction he went over to the pile of leather and began the final steps of adding buckles and straps to his shield.

The dwarf was watching Jason throughout this whole process with his jaw hanging loose the whole time. He was amazed at the skill and smoothness with which Jason handled the tools of his forge. 'This human is nearly as good as my brother!' He thought to himself.

As Jason put the finishing touches on his product, he nodded with satisfaction. It was 25 inches from top to bottom at its points and 19 inches wide. It weighed in at a solid 7 pounds which was perfect for Jason. It wasn't too big where it would hamper his movement, but just big enough to protect him as needed.

Almost as if sensing his satisfaction of completion, he received a notification.

[System Message – Heater Shield – Uncommon – forging completed]

[System Message – Congratulations, you are the first User to forge uncommon equipment]

[System Message – Congratulations, you are the first User to forge equipment successfully without the aid of the system]

[System Message – Congratulations, you are the first User to forge uncommon equipment without the aid of The System]

[System Message – Rewarding User with Unique title Forerunner Forger: Increases forging success rate by 80% for grades uncommon through platinum, increases forging success rate by 40% for grades Mithril and Legendary, Increases forging success rate by 20% above Legendary. Add's one additional special effect to each equipment forged.]

The newly forged Heater Shield fell clanging to the floor as Jason stared bewildered at the notifications The System had sent him.

'Did I become the protagonist of some novel?'