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Luke stared at both of them and proceeded to narrate his recent adventure in the forest. After finishing he drank a glass of water that was on the table.

“Let me get this straight, you saw those monster in this forest and even fought them and then awakened some game like system?” Jack said agitated.

“Yeah, that's pretty much it. I think we should…” Luke

“ Awesome! I was really bored and there was nothing to see on the TV” Jake.

Yes, this was the problem with Jack, he was an infant trapped in a grown-up body. He was fun to have around until he started making pranks to you and then the joke want on you. Despite this he was quite useful in the isolated style of life they were used to.

“Jack this isn't a game even if it looks like one. We need to defend ourselves and defend the house. The greenhouse is also important but it can wait until later.” Luke

With that Jack sobered up and put his head in the situation.

“I think we still have some boards in the basement, there aren't many but should suffice for covering the ground floor windows” Jack said, no hint of his previous playful manner present.

“Great I leave that to you, I have my old staves, they're a little short and they don't carry much weight but they should be enough to make improvised spears if we add a knife. One of us should stay upstairs all the time to make sure the goblins don't ambush us.” Luke

“ I'm on it. You can use some of my knives for those spears.” Sarah

Now, it may (and should) seem strange how fast the couple accepted the new reality however if you take into account that they live in the forest with minimal human contact and not much to do but read novels, you can begin to understand. If you add that they all became fans of the Lord of the Rings after Luke introduced them to it and that Luke made some mediaeval weapons from time to time, it wasn't strange at all (and before you think about it, only the staves remain from the weapons made by Luke. Swords and bows and other popular weapons where gifted or sold after being made).

After organizing the house defense, Luke decided it was time to experiment with Mana Control. He wanted to acquire two things: a long range attack and a way to heal himself and others. It wasn't necessary for the attack to do lots of damage from the beginning, but the distance was key. Specially against the weak goblins whose power lie in numbers and not in individual strength.

So he stopped trying to put it off, went outside through the backdoor (he couldn't risk destroying a wall while experimenting), sat down and closed his eyes. First he did a breathing exercise to relax and then concentrated on feeling anything inside himself. After ten minutes he came to the conclusion that he was doing something wrong.

‘what’s wrong? In most games and books the old master tells you to look inside for the energy usually some kind of well. Hmm, the System started just an hour ago more or less so maybe it hasn't integrated into my body… then, if I…’

Luke changed his focus from inside his body to his environment. He felt the sun on his skin, the whisper of the wind and the sound of the grasses synchronized dance. Abruptly he felt IT. It was like discovering a part of himself that have been severed when he was born. Slowly, lovingly, he pleaded through his will to the energy in the air to fuse with his body and the Mana did so willingly. It was slow at first but faster and faster the longer it went. After some indeterminate period of time, the process finished and he discovered his inner Mana repository. It has always been there it just was missing some external Mana to make the connection.

DING

Mana Control has leveled up to Beginner lvl 2 +1 to Wisdom

Luke was exhilarated with the result but knew it was only the first step so he concentrated on how to use this ability. He decided to first try to make the long range attack, after all they could heal by leveling up and if the skill proved effective he could take care of the goblins before they were at striking distance. Quickly, he closed his eyes again and started to recall the basic magic skill he knew: Magic Missile, Magic Bolt, Magic Dard and others came to mind. Then he started to imagine how would they work: first he grabbed a little energy from his repository and made a ball, secondly he remembered that arrows were always spinning to add penetrating power, so he put some spin to his ball. Lastly he opened his eyes, pointed his finger at stump 25 mts. away and commanded the energy to go. The result was better than expected: the bolt overshot by 5 mts. Before rapidly losing strength and disappearing before reaching the forty meters mark.

DING

Skill Created! Mana Bolt Beginner lvl 1 Fire a bolt of energy to a 30 meters away target. Damage 5 (+1.0xIntelligence). Cooldown: 5 secs. Mana Cost: 5 MP Mana Control has leveled up to Beginner lvl 3

That looked good enough. He imagined than in the future he could spam the skill almost without stopping and the fact it added his Intelligence meant the skill would remain useful for long while.

Before going over to research the heal skill he wanted to test one more thing. This time instead of using his own energy he tried to use the Mana in the around, but he failed. It didn't seem possible to make it take form although he suspected there was a way. The last trial was to see if he could make the bolts remain formed around him in a passive state so he could shoot them at a later time. To his joy, he discovered that he could maintain up to three orbiting bolts without concentrating and spending extra Mana. The orbs were really attention grabbing with their soft blue light and slow pace.

Having the long range took care of, he moved his brain to how to develop a Heal skill. It turned out to be simpler than he could hope for: he started by visualizing his body and checking it up with his Mana to see if there was any wound but didn't found anything. Without disrupting the image in his mind, he grabbed his small utility knife and made a small cut on his finger. His Mana immediately flared up and pointed the cut out. With a little mental effort he directed his energy to the area and used it to close the scratch. And then he heard the good news alarm

DING

Skill Created!

Minor Heal Beginner lvl 1

Heals up to 5 (+1.0xIntelligence) to a target 5 meters away. Cooldown: 10 secs. Mana Cost: 10 MP

It wasn't optimal but it would have to do for now.

Happy with the success he went toward the house to grab a bite when he heard Sarah screams.

“Luke! They're coming! I can see them just behind the treeline on the side of the road."