“Your hour is up. The trial will now begin.” The magic weapon expert version of Zane said.

Before Zane could respond, he felt his vision darken and his body shift. The next moment Zane was in a grass field with the sun high in the sky. The magic weapon expert version of Zane appeared in front of him and started speaking.

“As you already know, you will be fighting against previous holders of the magic weapon expert class during this trial. You will face two opponents based on the different quality of source fields. You will be rewarded depending on how many opponents you defeat. Although victory is important, it is far more important for you to learn and grow from the battles you will participate in.”

“During the trial you will be restricted to the stats you had when you entered the first tier. Your source, source field and source stats will remain unchanged. Skills from your martial weapon expert class will be sealed during the trial. You will be given ordinary weapons to use during your battles. Before you face your first opponent do you have any questions?”

After taking a few seconds to go over the information he just received, Zane replied no to the question. The magic weapon expert version of himself disappeared and another figure appeared more than a dozen meters away from Zane. Focusing his gaze, Zane saw that his opponent was a scrawny male with brown hair and pale skin. He wore a tattered gray robe and held an ordinary magic wooden staff in his right hand.

“Your first opponent will be someone with a flawed source field. The creator of the magic weapon expert class. You have one minute to prepare before the battle begins.”

With a thought, Zane summoned a magic staff into his hand. It was the same staff his opponent had. Zane looked at his opponent and went over battle strategies in his mind. The more he thought about the battle, the more excited he became. The system had given him an opportunity to fight multiple people on the same path as him. Right before the battle began, Zane asked himself why the creator of the magic weapon expert class had a flawed source field.

“Begin!”

Immediately, Zane casted Magic Barrier. He visualized the barrier in his mind before mobilizing his mana to bring the image to reality. It took two seconds for the barrier to appear. The moment it did Zane knew he didn’t cast the spell perfectly. Without considering the effects of his other skills, Zane's barrier would approximately have six hundred defense points. It wasn’t unsurprising though. After all, he only learned the skill an hour ago.

Once Zane finished creating his barrier, he began analyzing his opponent. His opponent had already created a defensive barrier and was using his staff to gather mana from the environment. Several thoughts went through Zane’s head and within a second, he made a decision. Fire bolt. Earth bolt. Ice bolt. Lightning bolt.

All four spells were casted using less than two seconds. However, Zane’s opponent wasn’t slow and immediately responded to Zane’s four spells with three mana bolts. Red, brown, bluish white and yellow balls of mana were flying toward three balls of mana that were primarily blue and dotted with multiple colors. The first mana bolt destroyed Zane’s fire bolt and weakened Zane’s earth bolt. The second mana bolt destroyed Zane’s earth bolt and ice bolt. The final mana bolt destroyed Zane’s lightning bolt and continued moving toward him.

Ignoring the weakened mana bolt Zane continued gathering mana for the spell he started casting after he cast his four previous spells. The mana bolt landed on Zane’s barrier and dealt very little damage. Zane casted his spell immediately after. Lightning arrow.

A yellow arrow crackled as it shot through the air much faster than the previous magical bolts. Zane’s opponent barely managed to transform the mana in the surroundings into a wall before the arrow reached him. However, the wall wasn’t able to stop the arrow.

Zane’s arrow broke through the wall and slammed into his opponent’s barrier. Zane could see the symbols used to create the barrier showed signs of cracking. Immediately, Zane unleashed four more Lightning bolts at his opponent.

Before Zane’s bolts could arrive, his opponent tried to repair the wall of mana and his barrier. The hole created by Zane’s lightning arrow was quickly repaired and quickly reopened by the first two bolts Zane unleashed. As a result, the wall of mana completely fell apart. The final two bolts destroyed the barrier that his opponent failed to repair.

With victory in sight, Zane proceeded to unleash another four Lightning bolts. He paused and unleashed four more Lightning bolts for good measure. Zane’s opponent kept his staff vertical as he waved it around. Mana surged from the surroundings and created two more walls before Zane’s lightning bolts arrived.

The first two lightning bolts created a whole in the first barrier almost as soon as it formed. The next two bolts created a whole in the second wall. As the final four bolts approached the first wall exploded. Although the second wall was weakened by the explosion, Zane’s lightning bolts were weakened as well, and they were thrown of course. In the end the final four lightning bolts and the second wall of mana canceled each other out.

Mindful of his mana, Zane didn’t immediately cast another spell. He watched and waited as his opponent recreated two walls of mana and created another mana barrier. Suddenly, Zane felt danger from above and immediately jumped to his right.

One mana bolt crashed into his mana barrier and two more mana bolts landed on the spot he was originally at. Zane’s opponent continued to cast mana bolts as Zane ran circles around him on the grass field. Zane was calm but alert as he allowed his opponent to waste his mana on spells that had no chance of hitting him. Unfortunately, Zane’s opponent found a way to halt his movements.

A mana bolt that was smaller and faster than the others managed to hit Zane’s mana barrier. The blow only forced Zane to stop moving for a brief moment. However, the moment was all Zane’s opponent needed to send a web of mana falling onto Zane’s magic barrier.

Now, Zane was rooted to the spot and was forced to take his opponents attacks head on. What followed was a dangerous light show. Zane and his opponent threw different spells at each other in an attempt to destroy each other’s defenses.

As more spells were cast the surrounding mana became more chaotic. Holes appeared in the grass field as the clash between spells created explosions. Zane’s mind throbbed with pain and he stepped closer to exhaustion with each spell he used. In the end, Zane was victorious. He had more mana than his opponent and was pronounced the winner when his opponent collapsed from exhaustion.

“You have defeated your first opponent.” The magic weapon expert version of Zane spoke directly into his mind. “You have fifteen minutes of rest before the next battle”

Zane felt his energy being restored as he immediately sat down and began mentally reviewing the recent battle. He started with analyzing his opponent. His opponents use of the magic staff was excellent. Zane’s use of the magic staff was piss poor at best.

Truthfully, Zane’s use of his magic staff wasn’t terrible. However, Zane couldn’t help but view his performance in a negative way when he compared himself to his opponent. For example, the tier zero spell Zane casted were weaker than his opponents.

Sub skill: Fire bolt

Level: 50, MAX%

Tier: 0

Effect: Collects fire mana into a sphere and releases it toward a specific target. Damage 150 - 300

Special effect (1): Burn damage

Special effect (2): Explosive force

Cost: 60 mana

Sub skill: Earth bolt

Level: 50, MAX%

Tier: 0

Effect: Collects earth mana into a sphere and releases it toward a specific target. Damage 150 - 300

Special effect (1): Condensed

Special effect (2): Heavy blow

Cost: 60 mana

Sub skill: Ice bolt

Level: 50, MAX%

Tier: 0

Effect: Collects ice mana into a sphere and releases it toward a specific target. Damage 150 - 300

Special effect (1): Freeze damage

Special effect (2): Slow down

Cost: 60 mana

Sub skill: Lightning bolt

Level: 50, MAX%

Tier: 0

Effect: Collects lightning mana into a sphere and releases it toward a specific target. Damage 150 - 300

Special effect (1): Lightning damage

Special effect (2): Static shock

Cost: 60 mana

Skill: Lightning arrow

Level: 1, 46%

Tier: 1

Effect: Condenses lightning mana into the shape of an arrow and releases it toward a specific target. Slight chance to stun target. Damage 600 - 1200

Cost: 300 mana

Usually, a mana bolt spell would deal two hundred points of damage at most. Even if Zane’s opponent had special effects that would greatly increase the damage the spell dealt, it still wouldn’t explain why Zane spells was so inferior. Zane considered the fact that his opponent may have obtained helpful titles or talents that increased the power of his spells.

As soon as the thought appeared in Zane’s mind, he quickly discarded it. He also had titles that were very helpful. What really increase the damage of the spells was his opponents skilled usage of the magic staff.

A magic staff allowed the wielder to better connect with the mana around them. Throughout the entire fight Zane’s opponent was able to use the surrounding mana to enhance the spells he used. Zane felt the mana in the surroundings flow toward his opponent at a constant rate over the course of the entire battle.

This was an ability that Zane was familiar with. When he still had the basic magic staff mastery skill, Zane unlocked a special effect that would boost the amount of mana that he could interact with in his surroundings. Unfortunately, Zane lost the special effect when he fused his skills, and he wasn’t familiar enough with the special effect to use it, without the systems help, in battle.

Not being able to manipulate the surrounding mana is forgivable, Zane thought to himself. What isn’t forgivable was that I didn’t even try. The entire fight I was focused on battle strategies and properly casting my spells. I’m not trying to become a powerful spell caster or a master at combat. My goal is to become a weapon master. That means my mind has to be primarily focused on weapons while I’m training and while I’m in combat.

Once Zane finished berating himself, he placed all his attention on understanding how his opponent used the magic staff. He replayed the battle in his mind multiple times. Slowly, he increased his understanding of the magic staff as continued to review his opponent’s actions. In fact, he managed to gain a level in his expert magic weapon mastery skill and his expert magic staff mastery sub skill.

“You will now face your second flawed opponent. You have one minute to prepare before the battle begins.”

Zane opened his eyes and stood up once he heard his voice. Across the grass field, he saw another opponent holding a magic wand. Zane’s eyes lit up with fighting spirit and he summoned a wand for himself. With the minute he had to prepare, Zane focused all of his attention onto the wand he summoned and did his best to form a connection with the new weapon. When the battle began, he would do his best to unleash the full power of the wand in his hand.

“Begin!”