Four days had passed in no time. Alex was getting used to normal life, for his mother's sake. He was fascinated by the new information. A lot had happened during his time on the fourth floor. Strategies and weapon recommendations circulated on the Internet for the second floor. The existence of the force, or mana, was also revealed. Training schools and online courses on fighting were extremely popular.

Some ascenders had millions of followers or clicks on their videos. Especially Lina with her fiery red hair and rapier had become a celebrity, although she rarely published anything whenever she did, it was valuable news.

-

Alex was currently driving home from school. Everybody tried hard to keep the pretense of a normal life up. Malle had already left when four men blocked his path. They looked suspicious to Alex and he stopped far ahead of them. The car stopped next to him. Joshuar got out. “It hasn't been long Alex and I already have to invite you again. Would you accompany me?”

“Accompany or kidnap?” Alex asked.

“We like to avoid fights. The men are only here because you can't refuse this offer. The boss would like to talk to you,” said Joshuar.

Alex made Joshuar wait but in the end, he saw no alternative and got in the car. The interior smelled brand new. Three hulking men were in the car with him. After half an hour they arrived in the business part of the city. Joshuar led him into the entrance hall of a high-rise building. Crystal chandeliers and gilded wall decorations stretched across the entire entryway. Magnificent sofas lined up at the walls and miniature wooden tables stood next to them.

The elevator took them to the eleventh floor and into a large room. At a wooden desk sat a man in his forties. Next to him were several men in suits. Each exuded combat experience and alertness. Alex sensed their sharp stares. All of them had bronze rings.

“Sit down,” the boss said.

Three or four meters in front of his desk was a chair.

“Welcome to my office. It's impressive to see a young man like you who already has his second ring. Even most of my men avoid the sword ant.” said the boss.

“Thank you?” said Alex, “was such a welcoming committee necessary?”

The Boss grinned and his white teeth sparkled. “Well, that's self-evident. I want you to understand right away that my words are the rule.”

The Boss's look turned serious. “You can't go around healing people for free. If you treat your family or something, it doesn't matter but you're messing up business. Nobody messes up business.”

Eerie silence stretched across the room. Alex could sense the rising tension in the men around him. He was sure to defeat any one of them, even two or three but not all of them, not now. The outcome of the situation depended on his answer. Finally, he nodded. “I don't heal anymore.”

The boss licked his lips smugly. “Good, I guess that's the least of it. But I have an offer for you. We always have work for a young man like you. You could heal again.” Then the boss put a chunk of money on the table. It was a stack of five hundred dollar bills. Then the boss took a small part of it, put them together with a rubber band, and threw it to Alex. “This is six thousand dollars. Think about it.”

“Sorry but I still don't want to join,” said Alex. He wanted to give the money back. The boss laughed. “Keep the money.”

Then he took care of the paperwork on his desk. Alex sat there confused. Without looking up, the boss said. “You can go now.” Alex got up and left. He was about to walk out the door when Boss stopped him one last time. “We respect all ascenders but you have to follow our rules.” Those were his last words. Alex didn't look back but he would remember this meeting.

Wordlessly Joshuar took him back to the road from where he “invited” Alex. In the end, Alex arrived home safely before his parents.

He waited and when his parents came home, Alex invited them to the living room. He put the money on the table. His father narrowed his eyes. “What´s the matter?”

“The silver moon spoke to me,” Alex said.

“The what?” His father could barely comprehend. His mother was horrified.

“Their boss practically asked me to join,” Alex said.

“You won't,” said his father in a stern voice.

“I don't want to either but the money was hard to turn down. From now on, I'll keep my distance from them,” said Alex.

“No. We'll give the money back. We won't accept anything from them,” insisted his father.

“Dad, I don't owe them anything. I don't heal in the hospital anymore and for that, I take the money as compensation,” Alex said. That was the excuse Alex came up with. Now even his father was at a loss for words.

“You just do whatever you want,” his mother said.

“As long as I can,” Alex said.

“God, from whom he has that,” said his mother, looking reproachfully at his father. His father, in turn, lowered his gaze. “Honey.”

She ignored him. Instead, she turned to Alex. “Please take care of yourself.” She sounded very earnest.

His mother's concern touched him. “I'll do my best.”

The silver moon were bullies but from the looks of it, they spent most of their time in the real world. So far they were merely scratching the tip of the iceberg of the tutorial. Maybe Alex could do as he liked if he got far enough. Who knows maybe it went to the twentieth floor or even further and after each floor you became more of a superhuman.

The more Alex thought about it, the more he wanted to go back to the tutorial. The quiet life was good but it didn't fit him anymore. An emptiness set in and he missed the feeling of well-being that he had during his first contact with the tutorial.

"Mom, can you put me on sick leave for school? I want to-" Alex said.

“No. No tutorial. I want you to be careful.” said his mother.

“But I haven't said anything yet,” Alex said.

“No. I know what you're going to say. Alex, don't you understand? So many people are afraid of it and don't want to go there and what do you do? Throw yourself willingly into danger,” his mother said.

“That way I learn more and maybe I can help people with it. Just think about dad. Because I had the fireball ring, he got through the second floor so much easier,” Alex said.

Now his mother suddenly looked at his father, then she looked back. Her gaze softened. “Promise me you'll be very careful.”

“I always promise to take care of myself,” Alex said.

The next morning. Alex packed himself a backpack with food, drink, and anything else he thought might be useful. Then he went to the tutorial. There he first noticed that his backpack was missing. So there was no point in packing things at all, at least for this floor. He stood in a small room. The walls and ceiling were made of cold, white stone. The exit was blocked by the veil-like wall.

“Your performance was very satisfying. Now prove that you are more than a mere fighter. The next task is to create a spellstone.”

A pile of bones suddenly appeared in front of Alex. Each one was long and abnormally thick. Suddenly his mind got flooded with images. He witnessed the actions of an old man. The white hair grew wildly down from his head and he was sitting in the middle of a small village. He took bones, just like the ones Alex had before himself, into his hand and concentrated. Mana poured from his hands into them. Alex now understood that these were troll bones. After a while, the bones crumbled to dust. A small bright green ball of energy was all that was left in the hands of the old man. The green ball disappeared moments later into the palm.

Next, the man went to a Triceratops-like skull, which still had fresh shreds of flesh. The process took a while but eventually, the skull also disintegrated into dust and the man received a silvery-gray ball. Alex was truly fascinated by these strange occurrences.

Finally, the old man took a pearl and extracted its energy as well. He got a silvery-gray ball. No more materials were used. Instead, he summoned the energy balls in his palm.

At that moment Alex understood what they were. These were essences. The source of power and a lifetime worth of mana, now condensed into small spheres. Alex only thought of the trolls, whose flesh seemed to grow back endlessly. Their bones were the source of their powers. The green essence was overflowing with life. Whereas the silvery gray once was sharp and hard like a weapon.

Meanwhile, in the old man's hands, the essences fused into a small statue with the appearance of a pointed blade. The process looked fantastic and Alex could feel the energy was condensed and given shape. That needed a lot of concentration and willpower. The old man envisioned this particular shape in mind. If one imagined form doesn't fit, then the final step of merging may fail.

Next, Alex experienced the life of a small child. The old man from before walked towards him. He handed the child the blade statue and explained what he should do next. After that, the child took the blade, put it on his arm, and absorbed it. A mark formed in the child's body that had similarities to the blade. Every time the child concentrated on it, a blade grew out of the arm. Its size was adjustable by the amount of mana used.

After that, Alex experienced an indescribable number of events. Each time people used new materials and new spell stones were created. Some people failed dozens of times, others failed all their lives and true masters were born. Then the visions came to an end.

Alex now understood what he had to do and started right away. Mana flowed through his hands and into the troll bone. Now he had to extract the essence. The trolls incredible regeneration abilities were although part of their essence, which made extraction difficult for Alex. Every time he conquered a part of the bone it would start to regenerate. Yet it was this ability that made it so important for body modifying spellstones.

After a while, he found it hard to concentrate. It turned out that this was more difficult than he had thought it to be. Alex changed his approach. He grabbed the bone at one end and proceeded systematically. He worked on one small piece and then turned to the next. His goal was to fill the entire bone with his mana.

He began to sweat. His concentration wavered at the end and his control weakened. However, he could not waver, even for a second as that would allow the essence to take back everything he had worked so hard for. Integrating became slower. His arms trembled. His mana seemed to be burning.

His mind crumbled but in a moment of great joy, he finished his task successfully. The bone became brittle and shattered into a thousand small pieces when he had flooded the entire bone with his mana. Now only a small sphere of essence remained.

The next thing he had to do was storing the essence. The mellow and refreshing properties of the green essence made that a pleasant experience. He could feel it interact with his mana but only on a micro-level.

Now the Triceratops head appeared. Fortunately, the skull was easier to deal with than the bones, yet it needed more strength but less concentration. Soon he had the second essence in his palm. Integrating it hurt every cell in his hand that it passed. The sharp properties made Alex wince.

The next material was the little pearl. That little thing wouldn't let Alex mana penetrate. It was incredibly stubborn. He tried to wear it down slowly but the shell was too hard. He tried for a while but stopped his vain attempts.

He had to think of something else. With all his strength concentrated into his two hands, he bombarded one point. A crack suddenly formed. From there, Alex continued to dissolve the bead but he had overexerted himself. Even before he was done, his concentration completely crumbled. The essences he had stored melted away. Any attempts to stop them were futile. Shit.

“Get some rest. Your second attempt will commence shortly.”

Alex slumped to the ground. After half an hour, a troll bone appeared once again before him. He had barely recovered and was not given an extra second.

This try was significantly easier. The first two essences were stored before Alex realized it himself and he finished the pearl as well. It crumbled into thousand small pieces.

Then he proceeded to the last step. The three essences shined from the top of his palm. He did as the old man had done before him, fusing the silver-grey essences first. The green essence came afterward. It could not merge with the strong force of the silver-gray one but Alex let it slowly trickle in. Then with a sudden eruption of energy, the essences merged and took the shape of a blade. His pulse quickened. This was his!

It was at that moment that Alex understood yet another secret. The essences represented forms elements. Silver-grey was steel and the green one was the elements of life and nature. The tutorial only gave something, if it deemed one able enough.

He did not wait but absorbed his creation immediately. Satisfied, he poured his mana into the spellstone. The blade formed. Alex sliced through the air and was satisfied.

“Based on your performance, you will be assigned a final exam. You will be given the open potential exam. In this, you can choose the shape of your skill stone yourself.”

He was allowed to choose himself? This is very difficult but Alex liked the prospect of yet another spellstone. “Come on tutorial bring it on.”