As Simon sat on the vibrant grass under the bright sun, he could faintly feel the presence of the world’s essence flowing through the air.

The sensation of mana could be described as a continuous pulse - but from all directions at once, and in varying intensities depending on the direction. It was almost like a sixth sense.

In fact, when one reaches a certain level of mastery in detecting the presence of mana, one could even see their surroundings entirely through doing so. Simon just so happened to be one such expert, who could see the world without opening his eyes!

However, with his low level of magical accumulations, Simon was barely able to maintain a perception range of a meter. Any more, and he would only be able to sense the general shapes of objects.

Meanwhile, in order to absorb the ambient mana in his surroundings, Simon utilized a certain combination of breathing and mana circulation techniques, allowing said waves of mana to wash through him seamlessly.

What he was doing was akin to diverting a small stream from a river; after all, if he tried to absorb the entire ‘river’ at once, his body would surely burst due to the overabundance of energy.

However, it does have to be known that this was not a common situation among mages in the slightest.

Rarely would a mage need to limit their mana intake, as most would struggle to attract enough mana to absorb in the first place. In the most common case, it was like watching a river go by with only a bowl in hand. One would divert as much mana as they could from the ‘river’, but would only manage to gain a negligibly sized portion of it.

However, to Simon - who had an extremely profound understanding of mana, combined with the countless unfathomable methods he had in store - this naturally was no issue!

In fact, there was actually too much mana around for him to be able to absorb completely, hence him having to limit his intake to a ‘stream’.

Woosh...

Soon enough, a faint vortex of mana formed around Simon, causing visible fluctuations in the air. Meanwhile, his body reinvigorated with every passing moment, as a gentle flow of mana circulated through his cells and into his mana core.

‘Ahh…’ he almost moaned while mana flowed into his body ceaselessly.

‘It’s been a while since I could absorb mana like this!’ he thought joyfully. The mana in Island Ascension Online was actually as dense as the mana in his old world.

At this moment, Simon felt like he was a starving man eating his first meal in weeks, feeling incredibly blissful and refreshed while he absorbed mana into his body.

While doing so, he also took the opportunity to ponder over future plans.

-----

In the blink of an eye, several hours had passed. The sun was currently at its highest in the sky, casting its brilliant rays down onto the world of Island Ascension Online.

When Simon reopened his eyes, they were unmistakably more deep and profound than just hours earlier; now, it was like a vast ocean was contained within them.

These eyes did not match his figure of a young man in his twenties - they looked like eyes that belonged to a being who had experienced decades of hardships and tribulations.

Simon slowly stood back up on the grass and yawned, the depths of his eyes becoming hidden once again.

‘That was a pretty productive session!’ he couldn’t help but think as he stretched.

Indeed, in these past few hours, he had made great strides in his star progression.

After all, he used to be a formidable 6 star core mage in his past life. As a result, he already had the required enlightenments to progress straight to the 6th star core without any bottlenecks. All that he was lacking was mana. As such, it was only a matter of time before he broke through.

Him achieving a single star core was akin to a high schooler retaking elementary school; it was simply a joke!

Simon then peered into his mana core, which was located within his heart.

His mana core currently looked like a globule that consisted of loosely concentrated strands of white energy. Within this globule of energy, liquid mana roiled about like a stormy ocean, seemingly containing its own sentience.

Most noticeably, this bundle of mana emanated faint, yet exceptionally pure waves of energy.

If any other mage were to see the level of purity of this mana, they would surely be shocked. This was due to the fact that the purity of this mana was easily at the 6th star core standard!

It has to be known that increasing the purity of mana was only something that came with experience and profound enlightenments, and subsequently, was almost never seen in lower star core mages.

Naturally, the more pure one’s mana was, the better. After all, pure mana had much stronger effects than impure mana by a no small margin.

With pure mana, not only would one be capable of unleashing stronger spells, but one would also be capable of unleashing more spells, due to the quality of the mana!

And if one looked closely, one would be able to see seven specks of light floating about in this globule of energy, which resided in Simon’s heart...

These seven specks of light each had a unique aura and appearance: A frosty blue, fiery red, vibrant green, gloomy dark, scintillating white, mystical black, and a dull gray.

Though these specks of light were all extremely small, the energy contained within them were frighteningly potent and profound. After all, they were the beginnings of elemental stars, which would only form from hard earned enlightenments and mana.

‘Good! If I were to guess, I’ve progressed a few percent in every elemental star.’ Simon thought in satisfaction after inspecting his mana core.

He then checked his stats once again.

-----

[Pro Farmer#69] (Human)

Island Level: 0 (0%)

Magic Level: 0 (27% -> 34%)

Nature Lv. 0 (63% -> 73%)

Hot Lv. 0 (36% -> 41%)

Cold Lv. 0 (34% -> 40%)

Dark Lv. 0 (29% -> 34%)

Light Lv. 0 (30% -> 37%)

Time Lv. 0 (29% -> 35%)

Space Lv. 0 (27% -> 34%)

HP: 2175 -> 2520

MP: 943 -> 1143

Strength: 592 -> 662

Speed: 435 -> 495

Resilience: 475 -> 535

Endurance: 446 -> 516

Intelligence: 943 -> 1143

Vitality: 415 -> 484

Skills:

(No Skills)

You will unlock more of your stat page as you progress.

-----

Upon seeing his stats, Simon sighed emotionally. His stats only confirmed his thoughts; he had progressed more in a few hours than when he had trained for months in his previous life.

This rate of improvement was simply outrageous!

Though a few percentage points of progress didn’t seem like alot, at this rate, if he simply spent a few days absorbing mana then he would break through to the first star core, which was an achievement that was already unreachable for many.

‘Though improving my foundations are important, I can’t spend all my time doing so. I may as well take this time to use all of this accumulated mana!’ he thought with a smile.

He then started sending out spells all over the place to uncover new skills from the system.

Woosh!

Boom!

Crash!

Brrrr!

-----

A short while later… Simon had already exhausted himself due to overexertion.

He once again checked his skill page, while laying on the hole ridden and burnt island.

It looked like a battlefield had just taken place on this island. Smoke continuously rose from craters on the island, and ice shards littered the ground. Large chunks of the island were even overturned, and the island was more brown than green.

Thankfully, the island was quickly regenerating. Elsewise, he needn’t think of having a good looking island any longer!

-----

Skills:

Magic Derived Skills:

[Matter Sovereign] (II)(Lv. 2)

[Destruction Resonance] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Appraisal Resonance] (II)(Lv. 2)

[Hot Sovereign] (II)(Lv. 2)

[Thunder Resonance] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Flame Resonance] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Cold Sovereign] (II)(Lv. 2)

[Ice Resonance] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Hardening Resonance] (II)(Lv. 2)

[Nature Sovereign] (II)(Lv. 5)

[Summoning Resonance] (II)(Lv. 2)

[Poison Resonance] (II)(Lv. 2)

[Light Sovereign] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Healing Resonance] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Clairvoyance Attunement] (I)(Lv. 7)

[Dark Sovereign] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Soul Attunement] (I)(Lv. 9)

[Mind Attunement] (I)(Lv. 8)

[Spacetime Manipulation] (I)(Lv. 10)

[Gravity Resonance] (II)(Lv. 1)

[Perception Attunement] (I)(Lv. 9)

Miscellaneous Skills:

[Anomaly] (I)(Lv. 1)

-----

After seeing his skill page, Simon was definitely satisfied. Though he didn’t exactly understand what all of his skills meant, he knew the rough meanings of them.

From his understanding, they were all branches of the 7 main elements, and displayed his rough skill level in each of the subjects.

He also noticed that upon activating these skills, he could use the corresponding magic without much effort, though his control would be less fine than when he conjured magic normally.

As for the [Anomaly] skill, he had no clue and couldn’t activate it either. However, he suspected that it has to do something with the fact that he was an… Anomaly.

‘Ah, alright, enough magic. Time to start playing the game!’ Simon thought with a grin after turning off the display for his stats. He was already behind compared to most other players, and couldn’t afford to waste much more time.

He reasoned that his first steps were to upgrade the crappy hut, to level up the island, and to gather the various resources on the island to technologically progress.

And so, Simon went up to the closest tree to him.

When he gazed at the tree, he could now see its information displayed in front of his eyes, due to the [Appraisal] skill provided by the system.

-----

[Oak Tree]

A regular oak tree.

Height: 8.3 meters

Raw Wood Contained: 1.2 cubic meters.

-----

‘Hm, this [Appraisal] seems to be quite helpful.’ he thought with a nod. With appraisal, he could save some mental strength when identifying items.

This was because while using skills derived from magic, he only needed to expend mana, not mental strength. As a result, they were considerably more convenient to use.

Riiiip!

He then firmly grabbed the trunk of the tree and yanked it out of the ground, roots and all, causing dirt to rain down.

[+3 xp]

[+3 foraging xp]

After which, he ripped the roots and branches off of the trunk and slotted them into the dilapidated wooden hut, before stepping in himself.

The interior of the hut was roughly 5 meters by 5 meters. As it was a very weathered hut, it had holes in many parts of it’s walls and roof, which allowed streams of sunlight to penetrate through to the inside. Not to mention, the smell was by no means pleasant - it reeked of rot and decay.

‘This is disgusting! Why does the game make you start out so poor!’ he complained inwardly.

Then, he shook his head and read the description that his appraisal gave him of the hut.

-----

[Island Core](Lv. 0)

It has mysterious properties and an infinite potential to grow.

Upgrade conditions: 20 Cubic Meters of Wood Planks, 10 Cubic Meters of Stone, 1 Essence Crystal.

-----

‘Hmm, this is helpful, it explicitly states what I need’

After a moment of pondering, Simon then turned to the oak tree that was laying on a rotten wooden table, and began to process it.

He first split the now branchless and rootless trunk into six 1 meter long segments. Then, he formed two wooden planks from each of 5 segments, forming a total of 10 planks, and stored them in a corner of the cabin. After which, he took the final segment and began the arduous progress of carving out a pickaxe using magic.

Crack!

Crack!

The sound of wood being split and chips of wood hitting the walls and floor of the hut soon overtook the tiny hut. He was directly splitting the wood using pulses of mana sent within.

...

A short while later.

In Simon’s hands sat a sturdy looking and beautifully carved wooden pickaxe; it even exuded an air of mysterious power.

‘Haha! It’s finished!’ he thought happily, while inspecting his newly made pickaxe.

Island Ascension Online was a bonafide survival game. One would face hunger, dehydration, diseases, and other forms of pain in this world.

But this level of realism did not come without benefits. When creating objects in this world, one was only limited by their imagination and resources! As a result, it truly could be considered a second world. Naturally, something like creating a pickaxe was well within the game’s capabilities.

As he proudly gazed at his pickaxe, a system notification suddenly rang out in his mind.

[Successfully made [Wooden Pickaxe]. Quality: 4%.]

[+4 xp]

[+4 forging xp]

Hearing this notification, Simon suddenly seemed to deflate. “4%? Damn! And here I was, thinking that it wasn’t half bad. It seems this System is quite strict!”

“Well, that's for the better I guess.” he then muttered resignedly as he glanced at his pickaxe with a hint of disappointment.

After all, he spent quite a bit of effort on the pickaxe, even going as far as enchanting its durability and strength with magic. Yet, he still got a 4% evaluation…

Little did he know that other players wouldn’t even get their pickaxes recognized by the system at all; the system was just that strict.

Simon then stepped outside the hut with his pickaxe in hand and took a refreshing breath of air, enjoying the view of the boundless sky.

‘Ah, so much better, that place smelled like crap.’

After finding a suitable place to dig a hole in, Simon relocated a patch of dirt with [Matter Sovereign], revealing a gray layer of stone beneath the dirt. He then jumped into the several meter deep hole, and began swinging his pickaxe.

Ding!

Ding!

Ding!

Crack!

Suddenly, a piece of the pickaxe head fractured and flew off to the side.

“...”

“F*ck it, who needs a pickaxe!” Simon suddenly exclaimed with a dark expression.

He was an expert mage, not some random grunt; he did not need to follow conventions! He had only done so in the first place to have the intended ‘experience’ of progression. However, he did not deign to continue this farce any longer.

And so, he chucked the pickaxe off the island and jumped up from the hole.

After doing so, he began the process of condensing the moisture in the air into water with magic. He had done this very process countless times in his previous life; as a result, it was as natural as breathing to him.

Soon enough, a floating globule of water the size of a pebble gradually began to form in front of Simon.

Slowly, yet surely, the globule expanded until it was the size of his head, appearing quite surreal while floating in the air without a single ripple.

‘Good! This should do.’ he thought with a nod.

With a wave of his hand, the orb of water rapidly turned into an orb of ice, and with another wave of his hand, the orb split apart into several shards of ice which he promptly caught with his mana.

Then, he enchanted the shards of ice with traces of destruction magic and gravity magic, magnifying their destructive power many times in the process.

After finishing up the enchantments, he then waved a hand majestically, and the newly formed ice shards that were floating in the air began crashing into the layer of stone under him, wave after wave.

Brrrrrrrr!

Soon enough, the pleasant dings of system notifications filled his ears.

[+1 xp]

[+1 mining xp]

[+1 xp]

[+1 mining xp]

[+1 xp]

[+1 mining xp]

…

‘Ah, this is much better!’ Simon thought with a content grin.

Though this method of minming put some strain on his mana supply, it was nonetheless, barely acceptable. After all, he was an experienced mage who could draw upon far more of the world’s power than a normal mage at his level; commanding a couple of ice shards was naturally no problem!

It has to be known that even mages with a single star core might not be able to replicate this feat. Be it a lack of mana or a lack of control, most mages with his level of magical accumulations would be unable to sustain such a powerful barrage of ice shards.

Soon enough, the layer of stone started fracturing and crumbling away under the ruthless assault of the ice shards, and the din of the collisions filled the island.

Every once in a while, Simon stopped the ice shards to pick up the loose stones and repair the shards. But other than that, he only had to sit above the hole, focusing on controlling the ice shards.

…

A couple minutes later...