“Our hero’s wasteful use of mana cannot continue forever. And it has begun to show after hours of increasingly reckless carving, Tio who has been overtaken by Ji, is now steadily catching up.”

“This is an awful feeling.”

‘Your not a god after all.’

“Even gods can get tired.”

“Our insufferable hero’s previous smugness was fading but We stay vigilant. There are many things We do not know, but We can recognize smugness on the rise.”

“How can you keep going, you still have mana?”

‘My mana isn’t like yours. It’s mature and reliable. Unlike your...’

“My what?”

‘I shouldn’t say.’

“This is a rare moment of glory. It appears our hero has finally been knocked down a degree. We must savor this moment.”

“Narrator: Off! Mode: Off! Sound: Mute!”

‘Ji?’

“Give me a second.

Preferences. Settings. Options.

God damnit!”

‘What are you doing?’

“Trying to turn off the narrator. He’s affecting my spirit.”

‘What did he say?’

“You wouldn’t like it, he said you were becoming smug.”

‘How insightful.’

“Unlike our hero, the elegant Fluo has deep wisdom, intelligence and beauty. She can see past our hero’s lies with ease.”

“Suck up.”

Woodworking increased by 1

‘Three hundred eighty two.’

“You should rest for a minute. I’ll rest with you.”

‘I’m still okay.’

“Our hero’s complexion is still alright but he can’t muster the mana to continue his extravagant carving method.

It is instead the surprisingly resilient Fluo that continues unabated. This is her constitution and experience shining through.

What our hero doesn’t know is that not only does she wield superior strength, she has spent considerable time studying formations with her mother.”

“This isn’t a fair match.”

‘But you’re winning.’

“What use is winning a battle when you are about to lose a war.”

“If our hero took a lesson from miss Tio, he would strife for efficiency. It takes more than raw energy and control to achieve efficiency.

Just like a great sportsman or fighter might possess immense strength and flexible body, he still requires battle techniques and requires understanding of strategy.”

“Are implying I’m not a strategist? I think ten thousand moves ahead, sometimes I even fool myself!”

“The strategist that fooled even himself. A cautionary tale, I'm sure.”

Woodworking increased by 1

‘Three Hundred eighty five.’

Woodworking increased by 1

“Three Hundred eighty five!”

“The combative atmosphere is painfully quiet, only interrupted by the pieces of carvings falling to the ground and the pair’s counting.

Our hero’s eyes are bloodshot, his skin pale and moist from sweat, in the most unbecoming of ways. A staggering contrast to the elegant Tio whose complexion is pristine.”

Woodworking increased by 1

‘Eighty nine.’

Woodworking increased by 1

“Three hundred eighty nine!”

“The competition is veiled in tension. It easier for us and even for the lowborn, should they be watching, that there is no competition.

It is clear that miss Tio has been playing a devious hand, her abilities well beyond the task at hand. This has ironically to do with her being in the company of a Beta.

In normal circumstances, such haphazard skills would never succeed so quickly, it is only because she has similarly received the blessing of the system, as it were, that she can perform such miracles.

Unfortunate for our hero, had he been fighting what can be considered a peer, he would have come out as the hero.

Is this the bottom our hero needs to meet to shed light his other deficiencies?”

“The only reason you can keep up is because you were blessed by me.”

‘Okay sweetie.’

“Wanting to rebut but finding no answer our hero looks up from his carving and to miss Tio and back down, his mouth opening slightly only to close again. This happens repeatedly.”

“Am I only now realizing how annoying this narrator is?”

‘You know, people would do worse things than kill to be in your footsteps?’

“The young princess of the local Fluo clan carelessly voices her opinions, ignorant of the striking pain it causes our hero.”

“Who said I wasn’t grateful?”

‘Oh, you are?’

“I was talking to Narry.”

‘Sure.’

“Tio’s comment and momentary glance causes our hero to sulk in silence. If he had the energy We are sure that he would cause a great fuss.”

Woodworking increased by 1

“Three hundred ninety six!”

‘Great job.’

“Seeing our hero’s foul mood, miss Tio has gracefully slowed down her carving so as not to embarrass our hero.”

“Huh?”

‘What?’

“Did you slow down?”

“No?”

“Our hero’s eyebrows twitch at the very obvious lie.”

“Fine, if you want to lose then you lose. You still remember we are racing, you’ll forfeit your reward.”

‘What kind of reward was it?’

“I was going to listen to one of your requests.”

“It seems miss Tio suddenly remembered. Indeed, that was something they had agreed upon. Perhaps she had gotten what she wanted or never really cared about it”

‘Three hundred and ninety!’

“The atmosphere has changed from playful to a thick seriousness.”

“What’s going on?”

“Pausing his carving our hero looks around the courtyard.”

‘Three hundred and ninety two.’

“Ji Aleksey turns his sights on miss Tion only to see her incredible focus at full display.”

“Oh, you are finally taking this seriously?”

Woodworking increased by 1

‘Three hundred and ninety three!’

“Shit.”

“Even though he is already tired our hero begins wantonly slicing his piece of wood. Surprisingly he has become more attentive, presumably to reduce his mana consumption.”

“Maybe I should try to increase the ambient mana consumption to compensate.”

“Unable to see past his mistakes our hero firmly decided to continue down his tactic of overwhelming mana use. From our hero ́s expression we can only think he has stumbled onto something.”

‘What’s going on?’

“Ripped out of her concentration, the fluo is a witness to the ambient mana concentrating in the courtyard. If it wasn ́t for her high level she might have struggled to merely breathe.

In most cases more mana is a great thing and celebrated but when violently pulled in the manner our hero is, it becomes volatile and unfit for most to interact with.”

“The more ambient mana I use the less of my own mana I need to use. Until my mana recovery outweighs my expenditure.”

“After a short pause the Fluo resumes her works. The sudden increase of ambient mana doesn’t slow her down but instead increase her proficiency. As to whether that is enough to compete with our hero is uncertain.”

Woodworking increased by 1

Woodworking increased by 1

Woodworking increased by 1

Woodworking increased by 1

Woodworking increased by 1

Woodworking increased by 1

Woodworking increased by 1

“It is somewhat admirable to see these two compete with all they have. At times the fluo manges to take the lead only for our hero to further enhance his efficiency.

At times the woodworking level increases only after they complete an item, these are what are known as bottlenecks. Of course, normal people would not only need to complete a single item, and they’d require some inspiration or other tedious additions.

As Ji increased his efficiency, so did miss Tio enhance her proficiency. While our hero saw some proficiency increase his greatest achievement was to further utilize his ability to gather and use ambient mana.”

“Who needs proficiency when I can use the world to drown anything standing in my way?”

“Despite the bloodshot eyes and pale face, our has the audacity to say such words with a puffed out chest. Not only is miss Tio staring at our hero but so are her servants.”

‘Isn’t missus Tio’s man amazing?‘

‘When I become rich, I'm also going to have a boytoy like this.’

‘I’ll have men begging at my feet.’

‘Tsch. I’ll find a handsome, smart and powerful man and play him like mistress Tio.’

“One of the benefits of the increased ambient mana is enhanced senses. Mainly hearing but also mana derived smells.”

“Your servants talk too much.”

“Like our hero, miss Tio also heard her the four fluo women talk amongst themselves. She showed no sense of shame but rather a bit of pride.”

“They’re just girls being girls. What, are you afraid of a few words?”

“The worldly miss Tio has taken up her princess-like throne and looks at Ji with a small smirk, as if to say, ‘What? are they wrong?’”

“So it’s like that?”

‘Like what?’

“And if I take you here, in front of them?”

‘You would dare?’

“Like our shameless hero, the fluo has nothing to hide from her servants. A single word from her and their fates will forever change.”

“Oof, that’s scary.”

‘So you are scared’’

“I was talking to Narry.”

‘Oh sure. Big bad Narry.’

“At this point our hero has lost too much face. His face a bit out of order but in the end he waves his hands and his astronomical ambient mana surges.”

“Good. If that’s how it is. How about I play with these four?”

“Finally our hero has struck upon the weakness of the little fluo princess.”

‘What’s going on?’

‘Oh!’

‘Ahh!’

‘My clothes!’

“Behind the four fluo women a wave of water-esque surge of ambient mana pushed them forward making them stumble forward until eventually they themselves move away in a panic. They move straight to miss Tio and Ji.”

“Oh? Your not laughing anymore?.”

‘Me?’

“Yes you, whose a ‘boy toy’ again?”

“The young woman turns from a deep ocean blue to a light blue in an instant.”

“Nothing to say? Then let’s take these things away.”

‘Ji stop.’

“Alright.”

“As soon as miss Tio speaks up Ji lets go of control for ambient mana. The laugh and mischievous smirk tells everything that needs to be said.”

“You four can leave.”

‘So petty.’

“Weren’t you brimming with pride hearing them talk earlier?”

‘I wasn’t.’

“While our hero is a thousand year old he has a long way to go to get the upper hand over miss Tio. She already seduced him in the most manipulative way and not only did he not take it as an assault but laughed it off.”

“I’ll deal with issues as I see fit, Narry. You think I couldn’t have been able to escape if I wanted to? Not even gods can measure up to my willpower.”

‘What did he say?’

“Nothing important, just the same underhanded comments.”

‘Three hundred and ninety eight.’

“Three hundred and ninety eight.”

“Again the ambient mana surges and in addition of lathering the blade it covers the wood.”

“Three hundred and ninety nine!”

‘Three hundred and ninety nine.’

“A soothing blue hue emerges from miss Tio. From her body we can see swathes of internal mana flow like a raging river into the carving knife. One would expect her to suddenly attempt to cleave the ground.”

‘Four hundred.’

“Four hundred!”

“Only milliseconds pass before our hero reached four hundred skill level in woodworking and in turn completes his objective.”

“Well done.”

“Surprisingly our hero doesn’t have the expression of defeat as expected. Instead he appears to relax his body and smile at his companion.”

‘Thanks.’

“How rare for our hero. To think he could be a graceful loser? There are exceptions to every rule, indeed.”