“After stretching his body in ways that causes one’s hairs to rise. Our hero sits in quiet contemplation. His tiny mind spinning fast yet lacking true direction.”

“I’m thinking where to look for people to join me. What would consider you me as? A mage? Sorcerer? Some kind of elemental melee warrior?

Should I get someone to sacri- to draw attention from our enemies? I haven’t seen someone heal in the sense that it allows you continue fighting despite heavy wounds.

But from what I’ve been told. Most people my level would be far younger than me. I guess I should first try and find a way to quickly level on my own.”

“While levels hold an importance, as it bolsters one’s energy reservoir and constitution. But that alone cannot give one the power to overwhelm a foe.

The prerequisite of control. Of knowledge, is often important, if not more important than large quantities of energy.”

“Uh. Well. Even if you say that. How am I supposed to train my control or study up, to gain more knowledge?

“A famous trail of thought concerning magic. Is that of the world tree analogy. A tree with deep roots that continuously dig deeper.

The tree reaches out, then continues to reach into the sky indefinitely. Its branches sprout in all possible directions, sometimes and often intersecting.”

“What?”

“Once you keep this idea in mind, you relate it to the study of magic. You start at the base of tree.

Before climbing the tree, you must explore its roots. Build your foundation. Lest you quickly fall.”

“Study the roots? Can you be more direct?”

“And to build your foundation. Means to stall idealistic progress, while practicing the most basic, the simplest of magic.

Such as control. Such as conjuration. Such as drawing upon ambient energy, both making it your own and using it in its raw form.”

“Hmm. I understand how to gather energy, using it to replenish mine. Using it raw is a bit harder.

But what is considered as simple magic? My first spell was just throwing a conjured ball of energy, right?

And conjuring, conjuring was just drawing or using energy to alter into different energy, like fire, wind, earth and water. Right? It had a lot do with changing the frequency of the energy.

Why did I even stop thinking about these things?”

“Mumbling. Occasionally conjuring one of the elements. Sometimes even trying to convert them into different forms.

Which of course leads not to conversion, but alterations. We hear the sound of low powered spells dissipating on the durable razor stones.”

“Oh! what the. What is this?”

“After an hour of mindless experimenting, it appears our hero has stumbled onto yet another facet of energy conversion.

To be more specific. A sort of radiation, a burning of sorts. A darkish flame. Often called the dark element, the corruption or evil magic.”

“Evil magic?”

“The expression of worry, almost laughable. As nothing in this world is evil at its core, nothing inherently so.

However, a common trait among people that wield such magic is that of people that have fallen on hard times. Often losing their empathic tendencies in the process.”

“What effect does this have then? like the flame, it doesn’t even feel hot or anything. I can just sense it pouring out of me, in a way.”

“All things are learned with time. And all things should be pondered upon. Even the simplest of minds would discover the secrets of the universe. Given the time to do so.”

“Got to remember what I did to call it forth.”

“With closed eyes our hero shivers. Abruptly, great quantity of black gas is emitted. The ambient mana is cast into disarray as it manically gathers into our hero.

Perhaps his undying physique is acting as a catalyst. A truly peculiar phenomenon.”

”Pah!”

“Our hero has spat out red and black liquid. As soon it touches the ground, it starts eating through the soil. Perhaps this is due to conflicting energies attempting to coalesce.

Or a more likely option is through a few coincidental actions, our hero has interacted with his undying physique. Causing his body to both defend and fight itself.”

“Make it stop!”

“Within our hero’s primal screaming, we can hear a call for help. Sadly, this is a battle he must fight himself.

Even if he manages to stabilize, it may not bring him any benefit.

But one thing is clear. Whatever he did to further his understanding of the dark element, pushed him over an edge of sorts.”

“That was insane. I feel smaller. What was that? It felt like a pulsing wave originating from my heart. It slowly calmed down, the pain didn’t really lessen as much as I got accustomed to it.”

“Paler than ever before. Almost as if trying to distance himself from the living, our hero’s fair skin has transcended up in a way.”

“Huh? Oh. What the hell is this? It’s like marble.”

“Stranger still. A large dark mark has emerged from his back. It appears to have formed into two cracked and withered teeth.

Blackened with white streaks acting as if they were reflecting moonlight.”

“What?! Where? I can’t see.

Mirror. I need a mirror. I can’t believe I got tattooed!”

“This phenomenon is both a sign of progress towards his body adjusting, finding an equilibrium. And that the timeframe which our hero has to fully adjust has lessened dramatically.

Without sufficient control over his body, mind, magic, spirit and other varying factors. Our hero is doomed to failure.”

“It’s always the same thing. You keep talking about control. How do I increase my control?”

“A novice forger slams his hammer with inaccurate, inefficient swings. The adept still swings with inaccuracy and without efficiency.

A master of the forge, has yet to see his hammer strike true. It is not until a grandmaster is reviewed that we see the rare moments of perfection.”

“Wait. Wait. I’m going to write this down.”

“Alright. So. Novice. Hammer. Uhm, efficient. Adept, master…”

“With odd proficiency, our hero has written a mantra to guide him. Even as he lays down his scribing tools he sits in thought.

Hopeful and with the naive mind of a child. We hope his thoughts reach the depths required to survive the calamities ahead.”

“Alright. So, my base stats increase if I train. It is incredibly slow. I mean my dexterity barely increased after all that hellish training with the Oh clan.

So.

Hmm. I should probably be able to conjure and manipulate small amounts of energy. Convert it to whatever element of my choosing with ease. I should be able to do this near indefinitely.

I could probably multi task while doing this. Maybe carve pieces of wood while using my mind to feel the flow of ambient mana in the surroundings.”

“Standing up. Still drenched in sweat. Filth covered and presumably near starvation. Our hero spots a tree in the distance with the eyes of a predator.”

“That one will do.”

“The trees within the camp’s perimeter have been given mercy. Our hero has started running towards a sizeable tree. In his hands appear delicacies, they vanish quickly down his gullet.”

“Even if I haven’t picked a crafting profession. Doesn’t mean I can’t actually gain skill in them. I’m only losing the advantage the world would give me.

Either way. May as well try it. I need to use some mana while carving anyway.”

“Quickly our hero snaps of a branch and sits beneath the tree. His hands move awkwardly but slowly start carving into the still wet wood.

Not ideal conditions for whittling. Even still, he sees progress. Notifications from the world report small increments of skill increase.”

|Carving increased by one|

“That’s what? Six? I get one every time I finish an item. Although, this wand doesn’t seem like much.”

“Our hero’s underlying mental issues seem to have crawled to the surface. His newest creation looking rather phallic.”

“It’s a stick with a sphere on the end. You are just being difficult. It’s a wand.

Alright. Let’s try this again. This time with one ball of mana. See if I can fly it without using my hands.”

“Previous efforts of carving would seem professional in comparison to this disastrous attempt. But even still. It is not in vain.

The concentration seems to have taken quite the toll. Our hero’s eyes even seem somewhat absent-minded and crossed. As if bored and in conflict of where to look.”

“…”

“After finalizing yet another phallic wooden stick. Our hero erratic breathing and unnerving movements ease up. His goal achieved. The time taken to finish the craft, almost doubled.

Yet it is commendable. To have achieved such multi-tasking with such low intelligence and poor will of mind”

“I’ll take that compliment and dismiss that below the belt slander.

But wow. That was harder than expected. Not impossible though. I’m going to hold off on converting the energy. I’ll just focus on moving a few energy balls around and carving.

This is surprisingly a nice way to kill time.”

“The intensity of our heroes training can’t be faked. His mind has to be consumed. Every movement premeditated. Yet his awareness at an all-time low.

Orbs of raw energy are slowly multiplying and flying in a predictable pattern. He still has ways to go. If he intends to take control of his fate.”

“Huah! That’s the best one, right? Looks, not bad. It was supposed to be a bird’s beak. Ended up looking like a fruit with eyes though.

Still! Looks aside, it has the best stats. I wonder what is different from before?

I didn’t see any difference in material. It’s harder to detect any difference in technique. Maybe it’s the shape?”

“Through extraordinary coincidence. Whether it was his sub-consciousness or not, he has managed to half-ass a runic symbol into the stick.

His experiments with mana may have caused a natural reaction. Perhaps his subconscious mind give free reign. A decent stick.”

“Wand! It’s a wand. Yes, okay. Still a stick, but it’s called a wand. Look!”

“The elongated fruit-esque object. An eerie similarity with a pre-revitalization fruit, called the banana.

Even the most accepting will only need a glance to see the projected insanity. Our hero waving the phallic stick in the air. Screaming at his inner-fiends.”

“Hm. It does look like a banana.

That wasn’t the point though. Look at the stats! Wait! I’ll name it first!”

|Ji’s banana|

Adds additional thirty-nine to magical damage.

Adds additional twenty-three to ambient mana gathering.

Increases magical damage by forty percent.

Increases cast speed by nine percent.

“A flexible wood. Although amateur work, possess unique artistic value.

The wand has been crafted with a rune. Causing an imbalance. Wand’s expected durability has been drastically lowered”

“As always, the world. The system shows its benevolence and indifference. Omitting a description of this malformed wooden banana wand.”

“I think it looks alright. A bit straight for a banana, maybe. Not exactly yellow. A tad too slim. But that aside.

I wasn’t trying to make a banana anyway. What’s the big deal?”

“Our hero treads into treacherous waters. Perhaps seeking to enrage the world or disgust it. We despair, not only for our hero, but the entirety of the world.”

“I’m moving on. I can definitely feel a substantial improvement. I’m having an incredibly hard to getting more orbs floating. Seven is my current limit.

Maybe I can get to eight or nine in a day or two?

I’ll have something to eat and continue training. After that we got to find a place to hunt. I’m starting to feel a bit awkward being this low leveled.”

“Beastial. A passing thought that can’t help but assault one’s mind. Caused by the manner of our hero. His movements flail madly as he devours questionable amount of food.”

“Time is money!”

“Manners of an adolescent child. Fragments of half chewed meat and bread splutter about freely. Near matching the etiquette of an orloth.”