Leon sat in his room deep in his Meditation skill, he was concentrating fiercely on his use of Mana Manipulation Inside of his core. Where his Mana used to be a thick cloud surrounding the edges of his core now it was in a whirling accretion disc around his Source. Tonight, he was trying to do something he hadn’t managed yet but had been trying to do for nearly a year now. Leon had noticed noticed a nearly three years ago that once the cloud of mana within his core had gotten to a certain point of density his absorption of outside mana dropped to barely a trickle. If he actively pulled his mana towards the center of his inner world and kept it in motion not only did his draw on ambient mana return to normal levels but it would also increase the rate of intake.

Leon honestly didn’t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but he figured that having more mana coming in was a good thing. He’d read a lot of cultivation novels in his teenage years, so he figured that he had the general idea of it. And it was helping him level up his Mana Manipulation skill so it was a win win if he could get his idea to work.

His idea was to create a tightly compressed ring of mana around his source that would store incoming mana and only release it in tiny, controlled amounts to use skills with. So far, the closest he’d gotten was to create this accretion disk looking thing around his core. As he did this the mana that flowed into his core from outside would keep adding to the mana within his core. He’d been doing this every night for the past year and every time he stopped consciously trying to do this the mana would disperse into a cloud that clung to the edges of core again. Another thing he’d noticed is that if he got the spinning mana to go fast enough it even started drawing more mana from his Source. The reason that he felt tonight would be different was because he’d gotten his Mana Manipulation to level 10 finally and he felt that his level of control was now enough to accomplish what he wanted to do.

Focusing his all on the task at hand, Leon concentrated on gathering all of the mana within his core into as tight of a ring around his source as he could. Straining against the mana that wanted to disperse into a cloud again. Compressing it further and further until he had what appeared to be a thick tube hovering around his Source. The tube was massive compared to the basketball sized Source. But he was getting closer than he ever gotten before to what he wanted to achieve. He willed the mana to compress once more but failed to keep control and all the mana exploded out in a roiling fog that soon covered the walls of his core once again.

Frustrated at his failure to get the results he wanted. Leon comforted himself by looking over his skill’s physical representations in this place while mentally checking their levels.

Meditation+++ lvl 1

Utility Pocket+++ lvl 1

Mana Manipulation lvl 10

Mathematics lvl 6

Identify lvl 8

Perception Filter lvl 3

Alchemical Stability lvl 5

Hammer Play lvl 5

Small Blades Mastery lvl 2

Cooking lvl 5

Speed Reading lvl 15

Reading And Writing lvl 16

Stealth lvl 5

Muffle lvl 10

Leon had gained quite a few skills over the past four years. And more than half of them had been absorbed and eaten by Mind And Body Of The Traveler. He didn’t bother with keeping track of the skills that had been eaten by the trait. All he knew was that his body was very resistant to being cut, his eyesight seemed to reach into every spectrum of light that he’d ever been aware of, his hearing was too good for his own good, his sense of smell was like a bloodhounds’ and his sense of touch was so keen that he could feel the individual fibers of his clothes when he concentrated. To top it all off his sense of taste was so good that he could determine the recipe used to cook nearly any meal he consumed. Leon was also pretty sure he was now highly resistant to most poisons as well. It seemed that any skill that directly enhanced his body or mind was eaten by his trait. He didn’t know why Mathematics, Speed Reading, and Reading And Writing hadn’t been absorbed, but he thought that it was because those skills were an application of a skill through the mind or body instead of directly enhancing either to accomplish their tasks.

His field of Stalactites and Stalagmites only had fourteen members right now. The level differences were apparent in the stalagmites/stalactites that represented his skills in the fact that each level up shaved the stalactite down on the edges and seemed to be carving them into pillars, each level refining their appearance little by little. Meditation+++ was strange to Leon though. It was his most used skill and still it had yet to level at all. He did not know what the requirements were for progressing it, but he hoped to find out some day.

Utility Pocket+++ was a skill that was in, one word, useful. But the word useful failed on so many levels to convey how useful it was. He could take his cloths of with the skill instantly and put on a new set just as easily. It kept food and drinks exactly as they were when they got stored, no matter how long he left things in there. The skill did not incur any weight penalties on him. It barely took any mana to use. And there didn’t seem to be any limitations on what he could put in there. He’d put living things inside the storage and been able to pull them out unharmed. He could directly place water and food from his Utility Pocket+++ into his stomach. And it could even be used to keep himself clean, it could just pull all of the dirt, sweat and dead skin cells directly off his body without the need to bathe or anything. Though he definitely liked to take baths and showers.

All in all, the first five years of Leon’s new life had been both rewarding and informative. The next five years would most likely be even more so for one simple reason. He could start learning skills! Which was nothing new, but he had learned that most species don’t reach a point where they can even learn a skill until they are at least age five. This is because, normally, their mana channels don’t fully develop until around that age. And apparently without mana channels, one could not receive the messages from the gods to pick up skills. Leon did not know why he’d been different until he’d thought about it… He had a direct source of mana inside of his soul, and others had to wait until they could get mana into their souls with the mana channels drawing it in. Leon didn’t know exactly why he’d developed his mana channels so quickly, but he figured that the presence of mana already in his system and the fact that he had the Paragon title had probably had something to do with it.

Needless to say, Leon had hidden the use of his skills from his parents and the live-in babysitter who had basically become a member of the Crumbl family already. Identify was easy to use surreptitiously without alerting anyone. But he’d only managed to get it to level 8 even with his judicious use of the skill. Over the next several years Leon was hoping to pin down exactly why his skills seemed to be leveling so slowly and maybe crack the case of his Meditation skill as well.

Leon would also now be allowed to read the books that his mother and father kept in their small library. Well, it wasn’t a small Library. His mother prided herself on the fact that she had more than a thousand individual different (Informative books). A thousand books just didn’t seem like that many to Leon who was used to having thousands of books at his fingertips with an E-Reader of his choice. And Leon had already read a few of the books by sneaking in at night. He’d been disappointed when he’d found that his mother really only had about a hundred of what Leon would consider Books. The rest were all tiny things, 10 to 20 pages long at most. But they all seemed to be very informative, short and too the point. Kind of like an essay on specific subjects.

Today, his parents had told him that all would be explained.

Leon waited patiently until he heard his mother and father in the kitchen before leaving his room and making his way there. Greeting them warmly as they both rushed over to give him a hug. It was slightly awkward to Leon because he was already taller than his dad. Standing in at nearly 4 foot 5 inches, Leon was giant for a five-year-old human. And positively monstrous when compared to a gnome child his same age.

Leon helped his parents prepare breakfast and set the table. His younger sister, Lilly Crumbl, was retrieved and set in Leon’s old hover chair. At two years old his sister was still absolutely miniscule. She looked like a living skinny garden gnome from back on Earth, but Leon kept that to himself. Once they were all seated and had food in front of them his mother cleared her throat and looked at Leon with that look that said ‘you’d better pay attention’ in her eyes.

“Ok Leon, its time for you to learn a few things. First off, you already know that it is rude to ask people about their skills. No one should ever ask you anything but the most general of questions regarding skills.” She said as if she had rehearsed this speech a thousand times before, “Now what you probably don’t know is that it is fairly common for people to ask about your Titles. Titles are awards given to you by the gods for accomplishing certain tasks. There are hundreds of known Titles, and their effects are well documented. There does not seem to be a limit to how many Titles a person may have but the difficulty in obtaining them makes it so that most people only get four or five in their lifetimes. I myself have the Titles Well Educated, Academic, Tinkers Lore, Alchemical Lore, and One Against Many. These are all fairly easy to get. Well Educated you get by reading one hundred informative books, and its effects are to slightly enhance learning speed and general comprehension of all things related to the mind. Academic is basically the same thing, but it opens up the path for Lore Type Titles. Lore Type Titles are narrow in focus and give very high bonuses to learning anything related to the specific Lore Type. One Against Many is the title given to those who stand their own against, at a minimum, ten creatures or beings that are at least one third of your size, alone and without help you must win. There are two more Titles that I know of down that same path, but they require fighting exponentially more creatures or people. One Against Many is fairly easy for gnome children to get because all we have to do is equip them with some decent protective gear and make them kill a bunch of rats in a controlled environment. The Title is an overall bodily enhancement that is minor. Stronger, Faster, Tougher. Its easy to get so most Gnomes have it. It will be a little harder for you to get because of your size, but it is going to be the first thing we shoot for. The Dungeoneers Guild has training areas set up for exactly this and we have already paid to get you a slot for tonight. Now after Breakfast you need to go into the library and read as much as you can before tonight. Until you get both Well Educated and Academic, we will not start training you in our crafts. Hopefully by this time in two years we will have gotten you at least six Titles. Three of those being Lore Type Titles.” Leon’s mother paused for a moment, looking Leon over for a moment.

“As for skills… Well, we will work on getting you certain skills to help, but everyone develops slight variations on skills. You just need to hope that the gods see fit grant you skills that work well with what you are learning and doing, as those skills will help you even more… Now eat up and head over to the library. You’ve got an eventful day ahead of you.” She finished.

Leon ate his meal quickly, washed his dishes and then bolted to the family library. Today he had already learned more than he’d learned in the past year, and it felt like his life was just getting started.

Leon had spent the entire day reading books. Or pamphlets really. It was mind numbingly boring, as every pamphlet seemed to have some kind of strangely specific take on absolutely random subjects. It was all general information, and though he was learning a lot. Leon was getting very, very bored by the time his parents told him it was time to go.

They left little Lilly in the care of Ellie as they made their way through Dungeon City towards the Dungeoneers Guild training facilities. Leon spent the vast majority of his time inside his parent’s home, either on the living floor or workshop floor. He helped clean the shop on the ground floor, but he was not allowed down there during operating hours.

As they walked towards the training facilities Leon used his Identify skill on everything he could see. Firing it off as rapidly as he could. Using it on people, the beasts of burden pulling carts, the buildings. He did this every time he went outside. Always trying to level the skill.

Before long they had arrived at what Leon would have thought was a football stadium back on earth. Not that he’d ever actually been to one, but he’d seen them. Painted along the side of the massive structure was the logo of the Dungeoneers Guild alongside a boldly painted ‘Training and Testing Grounds’ sign.

Gerald led the way into a massive waiting area where he went and talked to a receptionist at one of the desks. A short conversation later and Leon found himself being guided to a changing room where they had prepared a set of armor for him. Leon was actually getting fairly nervous. He’d never killed something purposefully before. Sure, he’d run over a squirrel that one time, but that didn’t count. He was here to fight and kill ten creatures that were at least a third of his size and weight. Seeing as how he was about four foot five weighing in at nearly 60 pounds. Leon would have to fight and kill ten creatures all alone and without outside help that weighed at least 20 pounds each. All at the same time.

And Leon had to do this without revealing that he already had skills. Especially Perception Filter needed to be kept secret. With his new leather armor securely fastened. Leon was guided by a bored looking man into a room with a gate in it. The room was spherical and totally enclosed. He didn’t see anyone besides himself and the man with him. Stopping in the center of the room the man reached into a bag at his waist and extracted a short spear from it that definitely would not have fit in it. The man handed the spear to Leon.

“Ok… So, you know what you are here to do boy. Don’t worry about getting hurt, the armor you are wearing is rated for fighting creatures much stronger than what you’ll be fighting in here. If you do get hurt, we will come in and save you from any lethal levels of injury and heal you right up. We won’t be directly observing you though as that sometimes counts as receiving help for some reason. Your armor has a little enchantment on it that will alert us if you receive any wounds that could lead to a life-threatening situation. We haven’t had a death here in at least two weeks, you’ll be fine as long as you try your hardest.” The man gave his little spiel then turned and left without so much as a word more.

‘It’s fine Leon he just said that thing about people dying to scare you, you can do this!’ he thought to himself as the door closed and he heard the gate on the other side of the room opening.

Steeling himself Leon pointed his spear in the direction of the gate and waited at the center of the room. When he saw the creatures emerging from the gate Leon immediately lost all his hesitancy about killing the things. These things were creatures that had haunted his dreams as a child in his last life. And the fact that they were real in this world meant that this universe was tainted. These creatures needed to be exterminated with extreme prejudice. Furbies.

They were about two feet tall and there were ten of them. The moment that they noticed Leon they immediately began rushing at him with their hate filled eyes and beaks clicking with a malice that could only come from creatures of such pure evil as a Furby. The demonic creatures were slow on their stubby feet and were tripping over each other as they moved. Leon did not hesitate to run forward and meet the charge of these unholy abominations.

Lunging with his spear he took the first Furby in one of its evil eyes. The monster unleashed a pitiful chittering cry before it slumped dead and began spasming on the end of Leon’s spear. Righteous vindication flooding through him as he realized that he’d managed to rid the universe of one of the most vile things in existence.

Roaring in his triumph over evil Leon backed up slightly as the rest of the Furbies continued their assault regardless of the loss of one of their comrades. Slashing with the end of his spear Leon managed to cleave a wound across one the demonic entities made manifest and slam another into the ground in the same swing.

After several more exchanges Leon realized something ‘though these creatures are clearly of demonic origin they are so weak that I could probably kill them with my bare hands.’ He thought to himself.

Not holding back or trying to be tactical at all any more Leon slammed his way through the Furbies. Stabbing, kicking and punching. Soon there was only one of the creatures left and Leon tossed his spear to ground. He rushed at the creature and with his bare hands began to gouge its eyes out. Screaming bloody murder as he drove his thumbs into the creature’s brain cavity while it desperately tried to defend itself. Flexing as hard as he could Leon managed to rip away a chunk of the creature’s face as he turned and hurled it against the nearby wall before curb stomping it until he felt its insides turn to mush.

Looking around at the Furby carnage Leon smiled to himself as a block of text appeared in his vision.

Congratulations!

You have been awarded the Title: One against many

(Note: This title is granted for fighting and killing at least 10 creatures within certain parameters of height and weight.)

Effect: Increased strength, speed, Endurance, reaction times, and overall toughness of the body

Congratulations!

You have been awarded the Title: Messiah of Violence

(Note: This is a rarely awarded Title as the requirements are extremely precise. Kill at least 10 helpless creatures with the complete and utterly unshakable belief that you are doing the universe as whole a great service.)

Effect: Learn and level combat skills 10 times more quickly. Dramatically Increases grip strength and hand toughness.

Leon read the second title and didn’t know how to feel about it. He looked at his hands and flexed them a bit. Feeling the difference in the way mana flowed through the channels there. He felt like he could grab a rock and crush into sand if he wanted to. Ridding this world of a few hell-spawn was definitely getting labeled the Messiah of Violence and it even made it so that he was likely to more capable of killing more of those devil creatures.

Looking up from his musings Leon found his parents looking around at the Furby carnage from the door he’d used to enter this room. He waved at them grinning excitedly.

“Can I get a hundred more of these things to kill?” he asked excitedly.

His father piped in, “You’d need a thousand for the next Title, and these creatures wouldn’t work for that one. They have to be classified as Dangerous creatures for the One Against Horde Title. The requirements get stricter the more powerful a Title is.”

Leon felt let down that he couldn’t just start a crusade against these Furbies this instant. But some day he would destroy them all.

“Well let’s get you out of that armor and get home so you can wash up!” his mother chimed in, her tone brokering no room for argument.

The Following weeks saw Leon doing nothing but reading every book in the family library. His skills in Speed Reading and Reading and Writing both gaining several levels. It only took him four days to get the Well Educated Title. But it took nearly two months to get the Academic Title. Once he’d gotten those Titles his mother had brought out a huge book from her bedroom titled “The Lore of Tinkering. V-1” His first task was to memorize the book from front to back. With his new Titles effects, it wouldn’t be too hard to do, but it was going to take a long while.

As it turned out, it was actually very hard. These books of Lore were somehow enchanted objects that knew whether or not you had fully read and understood each page before it allowed you to flip to the next page. The Lore of Tinkering turned out to be an incredibly detailed encyclopedia/dictionary that explained each and every tool in a Tinkers arsenal first. From screw drivers, to calipers, to measuring tapes and more the first hundred pages of the book were nothing but detailed descriptions of tools and the proper ways to use them. The following three hundred pages delved into mundane materials used in tinkering. And the following five hundred pages dealt with magical materials used in tinkering. Then came a three-hundred-page explanation of how puzzles worked for some reason. The next thousand pages and all the way to the end of the book were filled with examples of several hundred different gizmos and doodads, how they were put together, and how they functioned.

All in all, it took Leon seven full read throughs of the book to have it memorized completely and it had taken him nearly three months to finish. When he’d gone to his mother and told her that he was done, she had quizzed him for nearly three days straight before she was satisfied and then she’d gone and retrieved ‘The Lore of Tinkering V-2’ and told him to repeat the process.

In all honesty, Leon had expected this, so he wasn’t too disappointed. The second volume was thicker and was even more detailed than the first one. It delved into topics like repairing enchantments, the geometry of spatially expanded bags and boxes, and even mundane things like how to properly sharpen a knife or how to repair dolls and stuffed animals without leaving any evidence of the repair having been done.

Suffice it to say that this one took Leon even longer to read through than the first one. As his mother handed him the third volume of the series Leon thought to himself ‘there cant be much more than this right?’