The day hadn’t started well.

A dark god had come haunting my dreams, even if for a short time. I couldn’t get back to sleep again after that. I guess I felt less bold now that I was awake and my brain was working at full capacity.

So I spent the whole night awake, going extra hard at controlling my aura. It looked like whatever Alher, the Nature Goddess, had done to keep him away was wearing off.

Sure as hell, I wasn’t going back for a second round of soul lynching. From any god ever, if I could help it. Making my spirit sore was a minor inconvenience but having some opinionated big-ass spirit snooping on my personal business was a big no for me.

I tossed the useless obisidian-lacquered blanket away and got ready for a new day.

As soon as I entered the Academy, one of the clerks beelined me and sent me straight to Violet, who had just gotten back from her mission. Or covert op, whatever.

So I rushed to her office to make my report about the progress with the job. And to bask in her perfect curves.

I received a cold shower… She had expected more. I blamed Klenn for being an insufferable prick. It turned out she knew him because she told me…

「Violet: You could probably beat him in a direct confrontation.」

I remained speechless for a few moments, processing the words.

「Allen: But he’s an attack magic specialist… I would be turned into ash on the spot!」

I expressed my doubts. Klenn was all about attack magic. Flashy attack magic. He specialized in making things go boom in spectacular ways. In fact, he was so autistic about his spells having to be flashy that he wouldn’t allow us to go on without adding some special effect like illusory particles or sounds. Powerful magics have to look powerful, he kept on preaching.

A waste of mana, basically.

Klenn was just the worst. I really didn’t know how Bart and Vezlaz could endure his antics.

However, Violet only replied with a faint mysterious smile that lasted a mere second before her face smoothed again. What did she mean by that?

I could only see myself being turned into red mist by Klenn’s lethal magics.

「Violet: What about your aura? Have you been practicing as instructed?」

She sharpened her icy gaze as if such a thing was even possible.

I mentioned my progress with 【Aura Control】. And also that ExFeras had disturbed my night, but I managed to push him away.

That’s when she turned all serious, stood up, and made me undergo another private lesson.

Only, it was more like private torture…

「Violet: Dreaming is a habit best forgotten.」

「Allen: But…」

She seemed dead set to never have me sleep again. Which was not compatible with my astral projection efforts.

I didn’t get a chance to complain.

She made me lay down on the couch. Then she pressed a finger to my forehead and started casting a sleep spell on me.

She expected me to stay on the edge of awareness while performing a mental exercise of moving my attention to various parts of my body. I was supposed to remain fully aware of my surroundings while my body slept.

I obviously fell asleep quickly and repeatedly, only to go through wake-up slaps and going back from start. Over and over and over and over.

I considered mentioning I was not into masochism but decided to endure stoically like a real man.

I was still under torture…

I felt miserable. And groggy. And miserable. The day was turning shittier by the second.

It never seemed to end, and I lost track of time.

At some point, a peculiar sensation washed over me. Suddenly I felt better, more present. It was hard to describe.

Mana density is now 1

Title Acquired (Awakened of the Mortal Realm)

Achievement Obtained (Walked the First Step)

The great news washed away all the bad suffered until then.

I had walked the First fucking Step!

I wanted to jump up and pump my fists, but I kept my excitement at bay. Instead, I used my newfound optimism to endure the training until Violet was satisfied.

「Violet: This is enough for now. You may leave.」

She said. I felt the pressure of her fingers lifting from my forehead. I lazily opened my eyes, my brain still catching up with the fact the trial was over.

Violet had already gotten up and was crossing her arms, staring down at me.

I mentally praised God as I fought to push myself against the drowsiness. Then, still suffering from the force-induced sleepiness, I half-stumbled towards the exit door.

「Violet: Congratulations on walking the First Step.」

She added in her usual tone as I was leaving the office.

She had noticed.

Of course, she had noticed! She had been keeping her fingers on my forehead for the sleep spell while inspecting my spirit.

Violet praised me. I allowed a small smile to curl my lips.

「Allen: Thank you… ma’am.」

I felt a pang of pride. Violet’s cool acknowledgment was certainly more rewarding than any of the ungrateful dismissive grunts I would get from the workplace back in my world.

Anyway, I had never managed to fill my spirit body completely before. Now I would be able to start the whole business of increasing mana density.

I hadn’t even paid much attention, but somehow keeping my spirit body closed off had become second nature, like shifting gears on a car.

I couldn’t wait to gloat among my friends. Although, perhaps the reason why people ended up grunting instead of praising me was my bad tendency to gloat. I quickly dismissed that line of thought. You gotta advertise how good you are.

As I opened the door, I remembered that I was supposed to meet with Grohm in the morning. I was most certainly late… I rushed to reach his office.

I almost bumped against someone as I left Violet’s office.

I still felt groggy.

And excited.

【SHOW MANA STATUS】

Mana: 255/255

Cast range: 3.9 m

Mana volume: 73

Mana density: 1

Mana efficiency: 0.7

Mana regen: 1.31 mana/min

Mana drain: -0.16 mana/min

I stopped in the hallway and looked around to make sure I was alone.

Then I pumped a fist with satisfaction.

「Grohm: You’re late.」

He stated, scowling.

「Allen: Sorry, Violet kept me.」

Hearing that, Grohm didn’t seem to mind much. I noticed he was working on what looked like a prosthetic arm.

「Allen: You’re working on magical prosthetics?」

He nodded.

「Grohm: This is what I enjoy. This is art. And I make life better. Yes.」

I took a better look. The prosthetic arm was made of countless parts. A third of which were arrayed on the desk, yet to be assembled. I felt strong steampunk vibes.

「Grohm: Here. Look inside… see the enchantments… but be careful! It’s fragile, yes?」

He had an unusual light inside his eyes. I guess this is truly the kind of work for which he nerds about. As a fellow nerd, I could relate.

「Allen: Okay…」

I closed my fingers around the fake arm and extended my magical senses.

Woah.

He wasn’t kidding when he said that it was art. The spellwork was on a whole another level from what he had shown me before. I couldn’t even wrap my head around it. There were so many enchantments and mana threads all over.

It was like a complex magical clockwork.

My face betrayed my surprise.

「Grohm: Ah, you see? This is where true mastery of the craft shows, yes?」

Before I could reply, he went on…

「Grohm: Quality magical prosthetics are tricky, you see. You need spells to simulate the sense of touch, movement, and all else. Otherwise, it won’t feel natural. There are few in the world capable of such a feat.」

He said, puffing his chest with pride.

「Allen: And here I thought you only produced gimmicky toy–」

* WHACK *

「Allen: Ow!」

The cursed switch had somehow appeared in his hands. He scowled at me.

「Grohm: Fool! I only showed you what you could handle. Obvious, no?」

He shook his head dramatically, like a disappointed father.

「Grohm: Insufferable. Short-sighted… fool.」

「Allen: I was just kidding.」

I pointed out, grinning. Grohm sighed and eased back in his seat.

「Grohm: Bah. Anyway, the final work will need a fine forbidding weave to protect it. I assume you must have seen something like that in your other job. No?」

I had. My enchanted rings felt naked after seeing how proper magical tamper protection looked. It made projecting your mind into the enchantable space impossible. At least with my current skills.

「Allen: Yes, I did.」

「Grohm: Good. You have decent precision despite being quite new at this. Hmmm, soon I might teach you some basic weaves and how to hide the seam.」

Grohm put down his weapon.

「Allen: Anyway. Staying in the theme of advanced knowledge, I too have plenty yet to show you…」

I said with a challenging smile. Grohm sniffed loudly.

「Grohm: Yes, yes. To be honest, I’m finding it hard to wrap my head around this thing you call software.」

「Allen: Well, that’s what I excel at. Most of the other topics I only know superficially.」

All thanks to those moments of boredom at work, browsing far and wide. As far as the corporate firewall allowed.

「Grohm: I noticed, yes.」

Grohm had taken out the sheets where we were laying out the map of my knowledge. I didn’t even know I knew so many things until he started putting them on paper.

He seemed more excited about “hardware” concepts rather than the “software” counterparts, which appeared to hurt his brain.

My knowledge about hardware was spotty and theoretical. I had taken the programmer’s path after all.

「Grohm: This is going to take years. Hmm. I’m afraid I’ll need to bring in someone else too. Yes.」

It didn’t help that, while I had always been good at quickly learning what piqued my interest, I was a train-wreck when it came to teaching others. Grohm had been painstakingly extracting the knowledge from my half-assed explanations.

He had already filled a book worth of stuff. Somehow.

「Allen: Someone else?」

「Grohm: Yes. I think I should focus on the… hardware branch of knowledge. Yes. I find some of the concepts familiar and the questions challenging. I do want to learn about the software as well but…」

He gazed at the topics: compilers, lexers, parsers, linkers, debuggers, operative systems, multitasking, drivers, programming patterns, networking… he pushed the paper away, shaking his head.

「Allen: I’ll need to at least teach you a programming language, otherwise you won’t be able to make use of CPUs.」

He grimaced.

I couldn’t wait to give Grohm’s a taste of his own medicine when he’d inevitably fuck up the use of pointers, forget a semicolon, or generally fall for one of the common blunders. Eheheh.

「Grohm: This is too much. Another layer of magic beyond magic. Hmmm… It can wait.」

He stroked his goatee.

「Grohm: I have someone in mind… But not while danger is present.」

I raised an eyebrow at that.

「Allen: Danger? Isn’t Valarest safer than most places?」

He shot me a glare of disbelief.

「Grohm: Didn’t you hear about the Madness? Didn’t you see the unrest in the streets?」

Now that he mentioned it, well… maybe the people were grumpier and more agitated than usual? I didn’t pay much attention, to be honest.

「Allen: Sorry, I’ve been spending all my time on my job, my lessons, and my projects.」

It’s not like I had a point of reference to tell whether Valarest was more or less in unrest than usual. It wasn’t rare for drunkards to shout at each other. I think about more important things while my body goes on autopilot from point A to point B.

「Grohm: Hopeless. Hopeless!」

He shook his head again. All this head-shaking was gonna make his head fall off.

「Grohm: Anyway, when are you going to do something about that?」

He pointed a thumb to the magical glass tanks, our little project. Still empty.

「Allen: Oh, that…」

I had kinda forgotten about it.

「Allen: Err, I don’t have any cool seed to grow yet. What if we put some spices and herbs in it meanwhile? The ones in my vases are dying out due to the cold.」

Grohm’s eyes went round, and he stood up suddenly, grabbing his switch with white knuckles. I inched back.

「Grohm: Spices… Herbs?!」

He appeared visibly agitated.

「Grohm: Perfect ambiental management. Advanced mana flow adjustment. Temperature and humidity control. Programmable full-spectrum day and night lights patterns. Automated water and air circulation. Magical pressure control. And what does he want to plant in it?」

He started twisting the switch between his hands.

「Grohm: Spices.」

He spat with disgust.

「Allen: Okay, okay! I get it!」

I threw my hands up. Grohm didn’t pay me any attention and motioned toward the glass tanks, caressing the frames.

「Grohm: A perfect tool built to simulate even the most peculiar of environments. Yes?! No… Spices.」

He shot me another poisoned glare.

「Allen: What do you want me to do?」

I asked, peeved.

「Grohm: You are alchemist, no? Post quest, ask peers, buy rare seeds.」

His Arstei was devolving by the second.

「Allen: It’s winter. I don’t know which plants I should look for and where. I won’t be able to ask anyone until I join the Alchemist’s Guild, and reagent sellers have restrictions on what they sell to students. Everyone who may know something just smiles and says it’s a “trade secret”.」

If only people weren’t so adamant in keeping their secrets under tight wrap and their shit-faced grins… Oh, how I miss the internet.

「Allen: Look, my intermediate alchemy exam is due soon. Once passed, I’ll have all the requirements for joining the Guild. When I get there, I’m sure I’ll be able to find something.」

Grohm sighed and sat down.

I didn’t have time to go look blindly for books about magical reagents. I was already loaded with duties.

I had decided to go easier next month. I’m full nerd for magic—it had always been my dream—but I’m still just human, unfortunately.

「Grohm: Pay attention out there. We’re at war, and Demons never play fair.」

I shrugged, not sure how to reply.