New Skill

Basic Mana Manipulation, the only skill Ellis had acquired during the last four years that carried the basic prefix.

He had acquired it due to a simple misunderstanding… believing that mana needed to be controlled, when it turned out that just guiding it was enough.

Mages, for example, had the magic circle, or circles, constructing the spell to help with exactly that.

They just needed to pour their mana into the circle.

The circle would handle the rest... manipulate the mana, transform it, and finally represent it in the intended form.

And the spell would be executed.

But why?

Why was Mana Manipulation the only skill that had a basic tier?

This was a question even Aurora couldn't answer… her authority wasn't high enough, apparently.

But Ellis, naturally, thought of a reason on his own…

He came to believe it had something to do with the skill being more complex… maybe even more valuable.

So, when one week had passed since he received the two books, the Crimson Aura Technique and the Blue Flame, and a system message appeared in front of him:

[You have acquired the skill, Basic Body Tempering Lv.1]

A message telling him he had finally acquired the most important skill he had been aiming for.

And to find that it was actually a basic one... that alone made him happy.

There was nothing more joyful than seeing his efforts rewarded in a materialized form, after all.

Ellis, drenched in sweat and completely exhausted, finally collapsed to the ground.

He willed his system to show him the skill's description. And, just like he thought… it's explanation was like it's name too straightforward.

The process he had been performing manually until now would from this point on be handled by the skill.

Even if he wasn't physically training, even while sitting still, it could be activated.

Not that he planned to do that, of course.

Going at it manually would help train other skills too, after all.

Not to mention, the skill's level would rise faster that way.

And with a higher level, everything would naturally become more efficient… it could even end up opening other paths for him later.

With a smile on his face at what he had achieved, Ellis finally decided to call it a day for today's physical training.

…

Now submerged in the warm water of the bath, Ellis had his mind drift on his current schedule.

He had been focusing on physical training for the last week to make the Body Tempering skill, but it couldn't go on like this.

He needed to balance things out.

And so, after thinking for some time, he finally made a new perfect schedule for himself.

He planned to focus on basic moves in swordsmanship during his training time with Galen. So, focusing on the basics.

Then, he would have a small session solely dedicated to body tempering.

The body tempering would naturally not be done in front of Galen.

As much as Ellis was grateful to him… he still couldn't trust him completely.

Not to mention, there was no need to show all his cards to him, either way.

Anyway, after the physical training, he would have a short session training the mana bullet, and testing whether he could use body tempering at the same time.

If it worked, then it would make things more fruitful… if not, then he would just need to stick to the mana bullet.

After all, it was still his strongest attack method currently, and he couldn't afford to neglect it.

Then, after that, it would finally be study time!

There was still the Crimson Aura Technique and the Blue Flame one he hadn't completely understood yet, after all.

Ellis still wanted to acquire Aura too.

… But, if before he was satisfied with a normal Aura, then that was no longer the case.

Now, Ellis wanted a blue flame Aura.

And because he couldn't take the knight path… no, he didn't want to, as that would leave him without pure mana, so, he needed to understand the technique and find a way to make it into a skill, somehow.

And he knew that was going to be difficult.

The Blue Flame Aura Technique was a lot harder than the crimson one, after all.

It was too intricate for him to comprehend in a short period of time… especially the later parts.

But he was up to the challenge.

… So, while studying, he would train his other skills. And that would be all.

… Well, he still actually wanted to continue studying magic-related theories, and he even had a skill he wanted to try to acquire.

But, Ellis decided to concentrate on this current schedule for now.

When he made some results in it… then it's never too late to make some changes.

At this moment, Ellis felt like he was now truly set—with everything he needed, and nothing remained other than time for his rise.

Was it because of that?

Even time itself seemed to start running more quickly now.