Edward Suncrest Pov

[After a prolonged period of meditation, your Mana has increased by 0.63 and Mind Power has increased by 0.99]

[After increasing the size of your Mana pool to 30 points, the Fire Manipulation Soul Ark will be completely suppressed]

Waking up from my daily meditation session, I checked my stats before letting out a despondent sigh. Honestly, my progress was SLOW with a capital s.

[Edward Suncrest]

Rank 1

Gender: Male

Vitality: 12.1

Strength: 13.1

Mana: 17.3

Mind Power: 16.99 (18)

Attack: N/A Defence: N/A

Skills: Unwavering Will Lvl 1

Soul Arks: Fire Manipulation Soul Ark (51%)

Honestly, I was already extremely lucky. From what I heard from the other wizards, they had made much less progress than me, at about 0.35 increase in Mana every meditation session. Even worse, at this speed, including the fact that it becomes more difficult to increase your mana as you continue on, it would take them an entire year to barley reach the peak of a Rank 1 Wizard.

Of course, I had it much better than them, with my (now) 18 points in Mind Power. The person with lowest stats in class was a fat 20ish man, with 4 points in mana and 9 points in Mind Power. Well, at least that was what he said. I’d be damned if I actually believed any of the words that slither out from between those greasy lips.

All in all, I was in a pretty good position, although I still didn’t like it. I was progressing far too slow for my liking.

All of that was going to change today though.

Recently, I had successfully entered Hakha’s clique, gaining myself a source of information. He had informed me that today, the Wizard in charge of us would be giving us our monthly allowances of 5 Mana tonics. Yup, Mana tonics, not Mana crystals. It turns out that there were four things that could increase a Wizards Mana pool. In terms of effectiveness, they were ranked from Mana tonic, Mana potion, Mana Crystal and finally the rarest kind of one-use Soul Ark, the Energy Soul Ark.

As a first-year student, I could receive 5 Mana tonics every month. We would also be rewarded with certain amounts of Mana tonics if we accomplished certain achievements, like getting first place in the half year test.

Standing up, I washed up and put on my Wizard robes. Standing in front of the mirror, I once again affirmed that robes do not fit me. Maybe if I had more time I the future I could make some suits? Thinking about inconsequential things, I made my way to an oak green door before opening it and stepping inside.

Absentmindedly, I walked over to my seat and plopped down onto it.

Looking around the class, I once again classified the students according to danger. The fifth most dangerous person here was the biker gang guy. His name is Jonas, and he made me look like a dwarf. He had tattoos all over his beefy arms and a really bad attitude to go along with it, which really made me wonder why he didn’t opt to become a knight. He hadn’t mentioned which Soul Ark he had chosen, although for some reason, I suspected that it was likely the Metal body Soul Ark.

Ranked fourth on my watch list was Mr. Main Character. As expected, his personality was similar to your generic selfish, ignorant and annoying 2d Japanese main character. Despite all the flaws in his personality, the guy had somehow managed to control the Five element Soul Ark I had seen previously. Yup you heard right. That cheaty bastard somehow managed to gain the approval of the Five element Soul Ark, and although he still can’t properly use it, it can still help him absorb the surrounding Mana faster, allowing him to have a speed higher than me. Fortunately, that advantage should only last until he breaks 50 Mind Power, since by then his absorption speed should be the same as the Soul Ark itself.

Third on the list is the girl who bumped into me, Elizabeth. It isn’t exactly rare to have a manipulative bitch near you but this one was even harder to deal with than normal. Maybe it’s due to the fact that she was truly very good at hiding her true intentions.

She had likely noticed that Mr. Main Character was a typical lucky Japanese style main character, thus when she saw that he was in the class with only me and her, she had jumped at the chance. She had set up the situation so that I had become a ‘Bad person’ and she had become ‘The victim’. Then, the hero would swoop in with utmost grace and valour! Not.

Fortunately, I had ruined her setup by directly communicating with Mr. Main Character. If this misunderstanding had continued, I would likely have become an eternal enemy of his, causing me to die within the first 10 chapters.

Moreover, I knew that this was very clearly a scheme of hers. When she had bumped into me, she had pushed against my body ever so slightly with her arms in order to help herself fall down. If she really fell down after knocking into me, then she would have just fallen backwards, without being able to do anything. Plus, her performance of cowering may seem realistic to Mr. Main Character but honestly it couldn’t be more fake to me. Who the hell cowers while looking directly at the ‘Bad person’ anyway? Wouldn’t they look away from the ‘Bad person’?

Anyways, next on the list was a thin and lanky teenager who introduced himself by the name of John Smith. Evidently, it was a fake name, although he didn’t seem particularly bothered that we didn’t believe him. This one is dangerous because of his Soul Ark. This guy had chosen a special Soul Ark called the Alpha Soul Ark. This Soul Ark allow him to create numerous clones, which used in numerous situations could be disadvantageous to me.

And finally, number one on the list of dangerous entities, Amber rose, a female who chose to wear a grey suit instead of the given Wizards robe. There was absolutely no reason for me to suspect her… but my instincts flare up whenever I’m around her. Call it the danger sense of a man who had worked in dangerous places for over 9 years. She was definitely a well-trained person, as shown by the way she walked. Normally when people walk, they would lumber about with heavy steps, however, this woman… when she walked, I couldn’t hear anything. Not even the sound of her shoes hitting the floor.

Anyways, this didn’t mean that my other classmates are sheep, but judging from their performance, I could essentially confirm that they were people without anything special. This mean that they would definitely just become mobs to be killed off later.

Abruptly, a familiar voice rang out in my head. “Exit the room, and turn left three times. I am waiting for you at the practice field.

Seeing how one of the future mobs jerked their heads back randomly, I was assured that I wasn’t the only one who had received that telepathic message from the middle-aged Wizard.

Standing up, I followed the instructions and found myself standing in the middle of a large rectangular field, except that the field was boxed in on all sides and there was no visible source of light.

Spotting the middle-aged Wizard, I jogged over to him, greeting him as I reached him. Soon, the entire class was here and the teacher began the lesson.

“If you have been listening to me the past few days, then by now you will know that the fundamentals of spellcasting is exerting your will through the use of Soul Arks to influence the surroundings, using your will to for example create a blade of wind. Your will is closely related to your imagination, which is why us Wizards use chants.

“Using chants that we create by ourselves, we continually link an image of the desired effect of a spell to our chant, allowing us to cast spells more stably. Today, you will be testing out some of your self-created spells in this field. Feel free to make use of the targets at the side. There will be a reward of 2 Mana tonics to the person who manages to cast a spell first 1 for the second and none for the rest.”

After saying this, the middle-aged Wizard dully looked at us and simply disappeared from view.

Ignoring the magical phenomenon, the class began to prepare for their practice session.

Honestly, after being exposed to several days’ worth of all things magic, our sense of normalcy had already been overwritten.

As expected, Mr. Main Character was the first to step out and actually try to cast a spell. “Fireball!” he called out. Unsurprisingly, he failed his first try to cast a fireball. Looking at my own hands, I decided to begin with a smaller flame.

Sitting down in a corner, I held my hand in a fist in front of me, except for my index finger, which was pointed towards the ceiling. Or was it a roof? I had no way to find out. Silently, in my mind, I pictured a small steady flame, like the kind that would come out of a small lighter.

Quietly, I muttered the first thing that came to my mind.

“Flame on!”

And nothing happened.

Unfazed, I tried again, this time with a different chant. I definitely didn’t want to turn into a human torch after all.

“Fire!”

This time round, I produced slightly better results, causing a few sparks to fly. Unfortunately, the sparks didn’t come out of my finger but exited from my nostril instead…

Panicking slightly, I patted the sparks out of existence before trying again. Just like this, I spent an entire hour, with varying results. Occasionally some sparks would fly out of a random position, and one time, I managed to set a woman’s cardigan on fire (no idea why she was wearing a cardigan over her robes).

It had to be noted that all of us were like this, albeit with slightly differing results. Just as I was beginning to think that no one would be able to cast a spell by today, I suddenly heard a deep roar and what sounded like the manliest roar I had ever heard. Then, the middle-aged Wizard appeared and looked around, before walking towards a metal sculpture.

Wait.

Metal sculpture?

Looking at it more carefully, I realized that the metal sculpture was in fact Jonas. Upon realizing this, all of my confusion was resolved. Jonas must have chosen the Metal Body Soul Ark as his Soul Ark and must have accidently triggered it. Whether he did it because he was stupid or lucky I do not know.

Tapping on the metal sculpture, the middle-aged Wizard tapped Jonas, causing him to revert back to his normal state. Panting slightly, Jonas gave the middle-aged Wizard a foolish grin before shouting.

“I got that reward, right? Whatever it was? I was the first, right?”

Nodding his head in appreciation, the middle-aged Wizard spoke words of praise.

“Indeed, although unexpected, you are the first one to have successfully used your Soul Ark to cast a spell. Although your Soul Ark is easier to use than the others, it cannot be denied that you were first. Thus, you will be rewarded with 2 Mana tonics. The method to use them will be told to you after the class ends, for now, continue to practice using your Metal Body Soul Ark.”

Taking two glass tubes similar to the one I saw before out from his sleeves, he placed them in Jonas’s hands before disappearing again.

Anyways, it seemed like Jonas had managed to successfully cast a spell first due to the natue of his Soul Ark. Body changing Soul Arks were easier to manipulate huh… easier…

Easier.

I was onto something here.

I assumed that making the flame smaller would allow me to cast the spell simpler… but was I wrong?

Easier.

Simpler.

I Imagined a lighter when I tried casting spells. But even lighter cant straight out produce flames. One would click it, using the friction to cause sparks. These sparks would then set the gas on fire, making a flame.

So why don’t I copy that process?

First, create sparks. But I can’t do that without friction. So-

I raised my hands and I snapped my fingers. The friction between my fingers were definitely not enough to create sparks. But when it is infused with mana? Then, it was a different story.

Immediately, numerous sparks burst out from my fingers, making my hand look like a firework. Now, gas. I didn’t have that. But I did have mana.

Sending a stream of mana through my hands, I directly injected the mana into the sparks in my hand.

Immediately, a column of fire stretched out from my hand, its intense heat causing my hair to singe slightly. The column of fire continued, scorching the ground in its path, until it reached the opposite wall, whereupon it started spreading. Realizing this, I hastily decreased the mana I was sending into my hand, all the way until it became a small fireball floating in my hands.

[Edward Suncrest has created a spell, Spiral of flame]

[Edward Suncrest has created a spell, Fireball]

Looking at the System Notifications, I realized that I had profited immensely. Spiral of flame was probably the gigantic column of flames that I used just now, while Fireball was the spell I was using right now.

“Not bad for a beginner. Your reward is 1 Mana Tonic as promised. Continue practicing, and work on your Mana manipulation, in the future these two spells will be really good for you.”

Startled, I looked up, realizing that the middle-aged Wizard had already appeared in front of me. Grabbing the Mana tonic, i was going to ask more about my mana manipulation when he disappeared into mid-air, leaving me hanging.

Slightly disgruntled, I looked at the Mana tonic in my hand, which cheered me up immensely. If what Hakha had said was true, then I was in for a good time tonight.

[Edward Suncrest]

Rank 1

Gender: Male

Vitality: 12

Strength: 13

Mana: 17.3

Mind Power: 16.99 (18)

Attack: N/A Defence: N/A

Skills: Unwavering Will Lvl 1

Spells: Spiral of flame, Fireball

Soul Arks: Fire Manipulation Soul Ark (51%)