Alright, no more Mr. Nice Mage. After what happened back in that forest, I'm determined to get my revenge on those [Link Ants]! There is still a possibility that I might blow up the hall again if Wind doesn't stop me in time, but I’ve got to upgrade my gear if we want some payback! First things first...

"Hello? Hope you don't mind me using one of the stations again," I call out as I enter the second floor of the [Force Blade] crafting hall. Of course, there is no one in there right now. I wish I could take that as a yes, but since this is a guild crafting hall that Annie's brother owned...

"Oh, Kazu! So that's where you are!"

Much to my relief, I turn to see Azel coming up from the stairway as they approach me and say, "I saw Mr. Wind downstairs and... What happened to you?! You look like a [Black Spectre] drained most of your life away!"

Oh, right... I forgot I still have the [Death Penalty]. Arthur said I could craft at my full strength after a few more minutes. I just chuckle in response to their outburst.

"Long story short, both of us were recently killed back at the , so I'm going to be like this until our [Death Penalty] expires."

"?! Oh no, I should have warned you about that place!" They groan and shake their head, which is an appropriate reaction to my story. "You can't go there without a party of 5 because of the dangerous monsters ahead, including those [Link Ants] that can overwhelm you in a few seconds!"

I chuckle again when he mentions that monster that took our first lives in the game.

"Guess you already get an idea on how we were defeated..." I sigh before looking at my friend. "As much as I want to avoid it, I want to avenge ourselves for that humiliating defeat! Besides, the [Monarch of Light] expansion is coming and we want to get stronger as soon as possible."

"W-Wow... I didn't expect you to get so fired up from your virtual death, Kazu. But how are you going to defeat those ants with only you and Mr. Wind?"

"Simple. I'm going to make a new staff that should pierce through their defenses. Our friends mentioned I should get a new [Mastery], but I want to try another weapon that can meld another element that should be weak to those [Link Ants] like my [Plasma Staff]."

"I-I see..." They start humming as they look through their inventory. "What kind of magic [Masteries] do you have on you right now?"

"I can use [Arcana], [Thunder], and [Wind]. I was hoping I can get the [Fire Mastery], but I don't know if it's enough since the [Link Ant] managed to resist both of them..."

"In that case, why don't you try [Earth]?"

I raise my eyebrow and turn to him. "[Earth]? I don't think rocks are enough to defeat them, though..."

"Maybe... But ever since you taught me how to use [Magecrafting] with the [Experienced Crafting] method, I’ve done some experiments with some other gemstones that I found during my excursions with the guild and my Dad. Plus, I did some research at the library about them."

"Research?" I ask in confusion until I gasp. "Wait, do you mean they have books about the [Masteries]?"

"S-Sort of..." They tap something in their inventory, at which several books appear out of nowhere and land on the table with the last one being caught in their hands. "The librarian gave me these as a gift for my recurring visits. One of which is a guidebook called [Guidance of Mana Control] by . It has everything you need to learn about [Mana] and some magic spells for any non-magic users."

"Okay? But who is this ? Is he an important NPC in this game?"

"Yeah. According to her, he's also known as the [Knight of Magic and Mana]. He's one of the few people who researched [Mana] along with its true nature and wrote several books about it and magic, for which the king awarded him the position of the head royal magician of his time and was knighted by that title. Not only that but there was also a rumor that he met the guardians of the fabled [Mana Landmark]."

My eyes widen at the mention of the guards. Bai Hu never mentioned him before during our talk about the [Mana Landmarks]! Does he really know the true nature of the source of this game's magic?

"From that description alone, I'm guessing he might be a well-known [Insignis] hero."

"Um... I don't think he's an [Insignis], Kazu. The librarian said he was a [Human] royal magician."

"Huh?! Wait, you said he knows magic and researches on magic. So I thought he's an [Insignis]."

"I know how you feel. But that's all the librarian told me about Evas. While everyone knew about him, nobody knew about his backstory before he became a royal magician. I even asked some of the NPC mages in this town, too."

"I-I see..." Guess that's one of the few mysteries we have to solve along with the plague culprit once the expansion is released. "Well, back to the build, you said you experimented on some magic stones from one of those books. What did you find there?"

Azel quickly grabs another book from the pile and shows it to me. "According to the [Elemental Connection] book, most elements have some strengths and weaknesses to each other. [Fire] can absorb the [Wind], [Water] puts out the [Fire], and [Earth] can ground [Thunder]. However, some can react unusually, which births a brand new element to the world. One of which allows you to combine [Fire] and [Earth] into [Crystal] magic, which one of them should penetrate through their special passive skill.”

Ah, I see. So that explains why my [Plasma Staff] worked before [Advanced Elements] was announced. “If that’s true, should I just choose [Fire] instead of [Earth] or both?” I asked.

“It’s only a suggestion, but you can. I’m just following what Evas’s books said. Plus, there is a chance you might merge your [Masteries] to gain new magic ones similar to your staff.”

So that means I can get the Plasma element without the staff’s help, huh? Now that’s what I call convenient.

“Okay. I’ll check more on the [Advanced Element] section on the wiki once the expansion is released. For now, I think I got an idea for my next staff. Do you have some gemstones related to [Earth]?”

“You mean the [Rumbling Gemstone]? Yeah, I managed to pick up some of them at [Wayward Tunnel]. You can have some of them if you like.” ? Wait, isn’t that... Uh... Well, I shrug that thought off as I accept the said items from Azel. “But are you sure you can do this? You said your method might destroy most of the crafting hall if we’re not careful.”

“As long as I put up a [Mana Barrier] like before, I think I’ll do fine. If not, I’ll have to risk being grounded again so Wind can save me. Again.” I seriously don't like the risk, but it's the only choice I have if I want to make another staff. Hopefully, I might be able to learn from my mistakes from my [Plasma Staff] build. So I take out some of the materials I'm going to use along with the [Magical Staff Base] I made prior and prepare to start my build...

"I wouldn't build that here if I were you, kid..."

Huh? Who said that? That's not Azel just now...

"I heard about you on the forums and for the sake of the guild's budget, you should stop before you do damage again."

What?! Okay, that's it. I turn around to try and find whoever's bad-mouthing me. But to my surprise, I noticed that Azel bows and slowly backs away as I see an [Elf] man who looks about Wind's age coming up the stairs.

"O-Oh! Zale! I didn't you logged in today!"

Zale? Is he another one of the guild members? He seems a bit ruder than that stealthy guy.

"Practice ended early and I need to release some of my stress for a bit." As I am about to turn around to avoid him, I gasp to see him staring at me and said, "And it's nice to meet you, at last, Magic Kid."

Wind's Masteries (Halved due to the Death Penalty)

[Archery] Level 19 (Currently 9)

[Woodcrafting] Level 9 (Currently 4)

[Swordsmanship] Level 18 (Currently 9)

[Cooking] Level 9 (Currently 4)

[Wind] Level 16 (Currently 8)

[Physical Enhancement] Level 17 (Currently 8)

[Hunting] Level 15 (Currently 7)

[Blacksmithing] Level 6 (Currently 3)

Kazu's Masteries (Halved due to the Death Penalty)

[Arcana] Level 20 (Currently 10)

[Thunder] Level 18 (Currently 9)

[Wind] Level 15 (Currently 7)

[Alchemy] Level 18 (Currently 9)

[Magecrafting] Level 11 (Currently 5)

[Magical Affinity] Level 19 (Currently 9)

[Scribe] Level 4 (Currently 2)