On the dawn of the fifth day of my new life, I awoke as a new man; and as a new man I decided to forego breakfast, since I never was particularly hungry in the morning anyway. So, after a quick shower, I dedicated this new-found free time to my ‘free-form’ of [Spell-Weaving], where my focus was divided between a defensive [Totem] and an attack [Turret] (both of which will end up being twisted in my usual way, but hopefully less than normal, given all the knowledge that has been crammed in my head this last few days).

The [Totem Spells] were really easy to weave, ridiculously so in fact, since they were essentially a pole of whatever material you wanted, as long as it came from something that was ‘alive’, that just needed to be set in the ground to then spread an AOE [Spell] that would ‘protect’ those that were part of my [Party].

On that note: apparently, thanks to [Buddy], I can just change [System terminology] within its synonyms, which is useful, and had apparently already happened with ‘Fatigue’ and ‘FP’.

Back to the [Totem], I decided, first of all, to embellish it to make it look like a Jangseung (a Korean totem, in memory of my mother), and as per material I went for the same smooth and grey wood my staff was made of (since it looked sturdy enough); then, for its effects, I made it so it would cast a ‘honeycomb’-like structured [Barrier] in a sphere around those affected, while also making so that when someone was under the [Barrier] they were healed over time both in their [HP] and from [Status effects].

Those last changes were the hardest to implement in the [Matrix], but since I had, for maybe the first time, some sort of guideline, in the form of hints from Merga’s books, it went much smoother than both I and [Buddy] had thought.

You have successfully created a new Spell:

Shamanic Totem of Protection:

(Spell; Totem; construct; Barrier)

Materializes a Totem capable of shielding allied entities within its range; entities under the effects of its Barrier are subject to a “heal over time” effect that works on both ailments and wounds.

Range and potency of its effects proportional to the Mana supplied to the Totem.

Durability of the construct proportional to the Mana used during casting, and its effects will persist after destruction until Dispelled or broken through.

I wasn’t sure, but the ‘smoothness’ of the process seemed to be influenced by the new staff that I was holding in my hand. But since it didn’t seem to divert the result from what I originally wanted I decided that it simply must have been one of the benefits it proffered from having it ‘equipped’.

Moving on to the [Turret], I had a really stupid idea that might just work: A metal pizza dispenser!

‘What’s a metal pizza dispenser?’, you may ask, to which I would reply with ‘a [Turret] built on a tripod that launched saw-disks at my enemies’.

The fact that I deemed it ‘stupid’ was merely from the name, since its effects would probably be quite gruesome.

The best part about my design? Since I could infuse it with my [Aberrant Affinity: Create] it didn’t need an ammo box, and I could make it shoot indefinitely.

Couple that with the fact that I could summon it multiple times without needing material, but only Mana, and you suddenly had the perfect instrument to properly build my personal ‘murder zones’.

“I know that I already said that I was becoming the most annoying enemy to fight against, but now this is just getting ridiculous.”

As per the design and material of the [Turret] itself, I went with a Mithril cubical box as the body, with a thin slot on one side where it would shoot the disks from, and a pivot that connected it to the tripod, so it could aim and orient itself on its own.

To cut back on some of the initial Mana for Casting I made it so it would use steel saws at first, with its hardness increasing depending on the amount of Mana I dedicated to it, which would eventually cause it to change its material into one that is ‘better’, to then repeat the process when it has been hardened enough again.

Once more, during the [Spell-Weaving], I felt the pull from the staff, and since this time I could feel its benign effects I willingly let it guide me.

You have successfully created a new Spell:

Forceful Metallic Pizza Dispenser:

(Spell; Turret; construct; projectile)

Materializes a Turret capable of launching metallic circular saws at identified targets.

Durability of the construct proportional to the Mana used during casting.

Speed and material of projectiles proportional to the Mana supplied to the Turret.

The fact that the name remained almost exactly what I had envisioned made me unreasonably happy. But, at this point, I guess it’s the small things that keep me going.

A knock on my door pulled me from my celebratory mood.

“Mister Darwin? You have a programmed lesson with Master Kaell in thirty minutes, I hope you’re already awake!” shouted an unknown voice from beyond the door.

“Coming!” I responded, after the sensation of having my euphoria snuffed by the icy water that was the prospect of meeting with acerbic old prune had passed.

* * *

As already mentioned, that morning was spent with Eddd, constantly berating me for everything he could possibly think of. But contrary to what had happened last time, this time it was all constructive criticism, so all I could do was stay there and listen to it.

One particularly good note from that lesson was that he reminded me about the absurd amount of ‘Mana expenditure’ [Spells] normally had, meaning that he reminded me how to cheese it with [Syphon] to absorb [ambient Mana]; which, once I applied it to my new [Spells], didn’t change them in any notable way, but I still could feel instinctively that the cost was now incredibly reduced, from what it previously was.

When he learned about my new [Spells] it was like I had just spit on his brand new shoes, and his berating quintupled, reinforcing the fact that I was too reliant on my constructs, and ‘forced’ me to make a new [Spell] on the spot by following his instructions… which were eerily similar to those in Merga’s books (maybe she had been one of his students at one point?).

Strangely, before continuing, he wanted my input on what I could find useful in both an offensive and a defensive way, and after I had just blurted out ‘telekinesis’ he went on a tirade about how it would normally be impossible for me, how it was a stupid suggestion from someone that didn’t have any [Affinity] that was [Force]-related, and then he gave the actual answer, but in the form of a question: “What if you could influence the [Mana] around you?”

“Isn’t that what I already do?” I asked back.

“No, you alter it, you obtuse fool. I asked you to alter it, to eventually get to the point of controlling it”, was his scathing response.

“one, you’re a prick; two, I could mimic [Telekinesis] by dragging around abject by pulling them from the [Mana] they had within them”, I replied in a bland monotone.

“Good… for a brat anyway”. He had almost let an earnest compliment slip by when I understood what he was going for, almost.

“Yeah, yeah. Why don’t we keep going with you continuing to lord your knowledge over me as a substitute for intelligence, while I pretend that I’m listening to more than half of your rants.”

“You little-“

I must admit that this dynamic of our was somehow helping me re-learn again both how to relate with others, and how to generally deal with people. Although [Buddy] wasn’t exactly happy about all the notions that I was gaining during this lesson.

Except for the [Skill]:

You have successfully created a new Skill:

Manakinesis:

(Skill; targeted)

Permits the user to control, at a distance, objects that contain Mana, by influencing its physical being through its ethereal one.

Efficiency, potency, and range proportional to Mana utilized during casting.

* * *

After a hearty lunch, to compensate for the missed breakfast, it was time to get battered and bruised by Grog once more.

Or at least that’s what he thought, because as soon as our spar began I summoned [Kevin], the [Totem], and half a dozen [Turrets]. This, together with me ‘telekinetically’ spinning my staff around like a madman, made it extremely hard for the Orc to get close enough to accomplish anything.

Then he decided to make me learn about ‘Mana distribution’, and how I was expending too much of it into flashy moves and unnecessary numbers of constructs, by demonstrating just how easy he still was going on me (and how an exorbitant [Lvl-disparity] could be a bitch to overcome).

At the end of it all, this lesson ended up leaving me even more exhausted than the last one, but I felt that I did much better than last time, not that Grog said anything about it, but I felt vindicated when before going to sleep for the day I got a condensed report on my [Stat gains] that I’d made during the day (and that I asked [Buddy] to make on my account, at least until this training period wasn’t over).

Through your actions, you have been awarded +1 [Strenght] and [Insight], +2 [Acuity], +3 [Will] and [Dexterity], and +5 [Energy]

That night I slept while feeling extremely satisfied.

* * *

The day after I did get breakfast, and also tried to connect back with my fellow [Humans]: It did not go well. To begin with, they tried to not acknowledge my presence, and when I pushed they got angry at me for ‘preferential treatment’, and ‘coddling up’ to the officials, which was complete horseshit and they knew it, but nothing that I could say seemed to convince them otherwise. So, realizing that the bridge had already been inadvertently burnt, I decided to go and look for Merga to start our lesson.

She was already in front of me as soon as I tried to step out of the cafeteria, and, after sending an odd look to my ex-compatriots, she guided me to her study.

* * *

To say that she was elated at the result of my [Spell-Weaving], born from her guidance, was a euphemism.

She was so happy for me that there was only a passing comment about the ‘pizza dispenser’, which confirmed that thankfully they did have pizza here, which now I only needed to find.

She also questioned me about the lack of a [contracted familiar], summoned from a far away plane of existence. To which I responded by listing my doubts and worries about making that type of contract, and having such a creature around me.

“There are infinite planes from where such creatures can come from, including those where everything is sunshine and rainbows, and you should know this from the books I gave you last time”, she gave me a look that made it clear she didn’t believe I was telling her the truth.

“Ok, you’re right. It’s mostly that I don’t want to deal with creatures that want to gain every advantage they can get from their contracts, which would result in us playing ‘mind-games’, and I never liked to barter, or the like, and this sound much worse than something as simple as that.”

“Not every creature which can be contracted with will be like that”, she reassured me.

“All the useful ones are”, was my immediate response.

“…touché”, was hers, as if she expected it.

The rest of the lesson ended up being divided between developing new and interesting [Totems] and [Turrets], while also deepening my knowledge about [familiars] and how to discern their nature, in the hope that I would relent and try to make a contract with one (even if they may end being a wild Animal or wandering Spirit).

* * *

Lunch time came, so we went back to the cafeteria, where the other [Humans] also were.

Now, I was still angry about how they had treated me before, but I still decided to make amends with them, since I thought that separating this way from them seemed like a real shame.

The beginning of our discussion was initially going surprisingly well, where both parties started by apologizing to each other (me for letting this misconception be so for so long, and them for being rude about it), and all seemed to be resolving peacefully. That lasted until Tyrone, one of the guys, tried to punch me, which I was easily able to dodge thanks to my [Aura], and then he started yelling about how they had gotten reprimanded for their conduct in my regard.

I had asked for nothing of the sort, but when I told them that it was clear that they didn’t believe me, and that they still hadn’t stopped believing in their prior misconception (if anything, they had doubled down on their belief of it).

So I left the cafeteria fuming, after realizing that the bridge hadn’t simply been burnt, but had been completely disintegrated.

I hoped that Skotch’s energy would be able of revitalizing me too, at least a bit, after that debacle.

* * *

Skotch was in as high spirits as ever, which indeed greatly helped with my mood.

The fact that the lesson for the day was in the open was also a plus.

All we ended up doing was going into the [Guild’s greenhouse] and making it so I was able to discern valuable plants at a glance, without having to rely on my [Inspect], which I was still bothered about it hadn’t [Evolved] yet, but [Buddy] reassured me this was what considered the ‘normal’ speed of things here, so I quickly relented.

Overall, if the plant glowed, had particularly vibrant colors, or seemed to be made of a material that a plant normally shouldn’t be made of, it was generally a good idea to nab it.

For dinner I was made to remain with Skortch, who demonstrated how to prepare the caught game, by showing me how to eviscerate, clean, and then cook a wild [Horned Rabbit] he had in a cage for the occasion.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget how the little thing went from a fluffy and cuddly pet to a skinned and roasted meal.

It did taste good tho, so there was that.

* * *

Still shell-shocked I headed to bed.

Through your actions, you have been awarded +1 [Serendepity], +2 [Insight], and +3 [Acuity]

And all was better.

* * *

The following two days were a similar thing, with me and the other [Humans] avoiding each other, and my [Teachers] systematically dismantling every progress that I had made, so it could become better.

I was starting to realize that they had recognized the competitive streak in me, and they were doing their best to exploit this fact; to which all I could say was ‘Bravo’, for their effort.

Not that realizing the fact changed anything: I was too hard-headed to do anything about it, and I had to admit that it was working.

To summarise the two days that I glossed over:

I learned how to recognize minerals, rocks, ores, and metals. They ingrained in me the value of proper compensation. I got much better at fighting. My cooking skills greatly improved. The reservation I had towards extra-dimensional summons slightly decreased. And I generally got faster, and better, in my casting.

On top of that I also got +2 [Acuity], [Inisght] and [Strength], +3 [Dexterity] and [Serendepity], +4 [Energy], and +5 [Will].

And with that, I went to sleep, with the knowledge that the [Guld Master] had said that the day that would follow would be different: Tomorrow we were going to be examined to see if we had the stuff to be an [Adventurer].