I quickly put down the last volume and sprinted out of the library. I could feel my heart pounding in my head as I turned the corner. More hastily than before I moved the rug until I found the entrance to the chamber of time. Now having completed the fundamentals of mana vol 1-9 and having 12 favor, I felt ready:

I touched the trap door:

To enter the chamber of time, the following conditions must be met:

Class: Sorcerer

Race: Undead

Favor: 10

would you like to enter: Y/N

"yes."

The trapdoor loosened revealing a ladder. I eagerly climbed down. After a few moments I was at the bottom of the ladder which stood a few feet away from a wooden door. The door itself seemed plain enough, but upon further inspection I could see magenta runes were carved into its surface. I approached it hesitantly and touched the handle.

Clank, grind, Clomp

The door gently swung inward.

The chamber itself was larger than I anticipated. Bookshelves and weird mechanical devices lined the walls. In the middle was a large contraption that somewhat reminded me of the solar system. The more I looked at it, the more it looked like a weird integration of metal runes in frozen orbits around each other.

A figure rose from the corner, startling me.

"Ah, yes, I knew you would arrive sooner or later"

I paused. Before me stood none other than Malfin the Wise.

"You knew." I said.

"Ah yes, of course I knew. Who do you think wrote all of those books."

Makes sense.

He slowly walked around the outside of the giant metal contraption.

"Ah yes, nasty business with the village and what not. But no matter, it does not affect what you must do, but it might make it more difficult."

"How so," I inquired.

"Ah yes, well you see, the amount of magic required to activate this machine is tremendous." He gestured with his arms spread wide towards the ceiling. "And the castle itself is an insulator and conductor of magic itself. Therefore, without the castle you will need twice as much power."

I paused, slowly connecting some dots. "I don't suppose these are the power source." I said while slowly pulling my necklace out from underneath my shirt, revealing the mana crystal set within.

"Ah yes, you are quick on the uptake. That is exactly what you will need. But unfortunately, now you will need 50 of them instead of 25."

My heart sank, this was going to take some time.

"Also," He continued. "So that the magic does not destroy your mind, you will need to be mentally strong enough to withstand the travel."

"You mean time travel, don't you? You are going to send my body back in time 3000 years and turn me into an Elder Elf."

"Ah yes, that is correct." His eyes glistening with excitement.

Quest update "Do Something! (S)''

You have opened the chamber of time. Now you must collect 50 fully charged mana crystals of any quality. Additionally you must have at least 100 base intelligence.

Reward: Race change from Undead to Elder Elf

Reward: ???

I began to walk away, when a thought that had been bugging me came to mind.

"Why didn't you protect the village. You and the other sorcerers could have easily defeated the kobold king and his armies."

"Ah yes, why indeed." There was a long pause, "Suffice it to say, it is not our place. You are players and we are merely characters in this fantasy world created for your amusement."

Irrely creepy reply. I kept pressing.

"You wanted to help, but weren't able."

His face looked sullen; he didn't respond but walked over to a rocking chair near the fire pit that I didn't notice before.

"Ah yes, I will await your return old sorcerer." He waved me off, staring deeply into the soul of the fire.

`````````````````````````

The 50 mana crystals took 34 days to obtain for a variety of reasons. Now that I have finished I can accurately describe the suckfest that was the last month.

It takes 5 copper ore to perform a [Prospect]. From my recent experience, prospecting copper gives the following rates:

25% chance to fail

25% chance for a sapphire

20% chance for an emerald

17.5% chance for a ruby

12.5% chance for a diamond

Needing one of each gem for the mana crystal led to the diamonds being the rate limiting step. Additionally, I needed to level up to 10 so that I could have enough base stats to have 100 intelligence. Therefore, I had to use a couple dozen of the crystals just so I could kill enough monsters to get to lvl 10. I got approximately 3000 [Copper Ore] in total.

After the first week, there were hardly any other players in New Hope village. By the second week there were less than a dozen, and at the start of the 3rd week I was all alone. With all the NPC's having evacuated there were no quest givers, and with no players there was no one to trade (not that anyone would trade me). Thankfully, the storage feature was still active in a large chest in the main hall.

Without any quest givers and NPCs, there was no way for me to acquire any new gear in the starting area. The one upside to prospecting so much ore and making 50 mana crystals, was that my jewelcrafting did go up quite a few levels. In the end I was able to make an ornate necklace and two ornate rings all with +5 agility. The increase in agility was helpful for running around looking for more ore.

Once again, I entered the chamber of time to find Malfin waiting for me.

"Ah yes, I was beginning to worry that you would be unable to complete the task before you." Malfin said with a sly smile.

"I have brought the crystals as you have requested."

"Ah yes, very good. Place them in the middle atop that contraption." He gestured towards the large metal device in the middle.

I walked towards it and a notification appeared.

Do you want to use your 50 Mana crystals on the device?

Y/N

"yes"

A faint glow suddenly appeared as the crystal materialized on the device.

"Ah yes, very good. Now, try not to die."

"I'm sorry wh..."

Illuminous beams of light of all shades and colors pierced forth from the mana crystals into my body. The crazy contraption started whirling and tottering.

Burning hot irons pierced through me as my health slowly began depleting. In a matter of moments my health reached 0, but I wasn't dead for some reason. Faster and faster, it spun as a dazzling display blinded me.

Darkness.

I woke up, attempting to stand but was too disoriented. Slowly everything came back into focus. As my vision cleared, I saw it in front of me I saw some notifications:

Congratulations! You are the Fifth person to discover a secret race!

you have gained 5 favor.

Congratulations! You are the Ninth person to discover a secret class!

You have gained 5 favor.

---------------------------------------------------------

World Announcement.

The Elder Elf race has been discovered

---------------------------------------------------------

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World Announcement

The Supreme Sorcerer class has been discovered

---------------------------------------------------------

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Elder Elf (secret race)

Elder elves are the predecessors to the undead and masters of the arcane arts.

New racial passive: [Highest form of knowledge]: Intelligence increase by 5%

As the first person to become and Elder Elf you have kept the passive: [Immune to Pain]: Reduces damage from all sources by 5%

-------------------------------------------------------

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Supreme Sorcerer (secret class)

Supreme Sorcerers are able to completely control the arcane and bend it to their will:

Intelligence: Mana ratio increase from 120% to 150%

Skills lost: [Arcane missiles], [Mana Shield], [Arcane Punch]

Skills gained: [Origin: Ra- To Create], [Origin: Shu- To Move], [Origin: Lam- To Condense]

You are currently able to use up to two Origin words at a time.

You may now wield any weapon in your main hand and off hand.

-------------------------------------------------------------

I slowly stood up, and saw for the first time I had a mana bar underneath my health bar. I almost cried. Who knew a tiny blue bunch of pixels could bring me such happiness?

I opened my character window:

Gray Rain

[Elder Elf] [Supreme Sorcerer]

Lvl: 10

Attack:20-24

Defense:28

Health:289

Mana:1990

Favor:22

Stats:

Agi: 19 + (15)

Str: 19

End: 26 + (1)

Int: [115 + (5)]*105%= 126

Def: 28

I had put all of the 5 attribute points from leveling up into Intelligence after being sent back to level 1. Looking at the vast amount of mana at my disposal, I was glad that I had.

Malfin the wise walked up to me and bowed.

"Welcome, Supreme one"