Sam, after retreating after surveying the hall where the bandit party was happening, slowly and carefully, followed by the still surprisingly obedient Lucky, returned to the armory. Then slowly crept to the back and began shifting crates around, creating a small hiding place behind them that couldn’t be seen from the door.

He could have wandered around more, but Sam felt he already pushed his luck enough. He had a goal, and there was no need to jeopardize said goal for his curiosity. If everything went according to his plan, then he would have all the time in the world to search the cavern system.

Sitting on a few clothes that he took out of the crates for cushioning, Sam watched for a while, smiling softly, as Lucky ate the scraps of meat that he laid out for him.

Straining his ears a little, noting that the bandits were still making merry, he leaned forward and began to run his hand through Lucky’s fur.

“Who is a good boy? Who is a good boy?” he murmured while watching as the young wolf closed his eyes in pleasure.

‘This is the best thing ever!’

After getting his fill with playing with Lucky, he did a quick bathroom run, quickly checked the news, and some gaming forums for anything interesting, then logged back into the game.

Still sitting in the shadows of crates holding an untold number of stolen merchandise and products, Sam began to meditate.

After all, if he had to wait, why not spend it useful?

He had acquired a new skill, one that he was hoping to get, and now Sam had to take some steps to further his build.

The developers made sure that a person with just the simple skills, without learning to personally manipulate and control mana, or any of the energies used to fuel the skills, would be able to participate in the game competitively.

But only those who mastered the very basic abilities, and those who went beyond the surface of the skills and plundered the depths of possibilities, would be able to raise above the masses and become legends.

And now, thanks to an odd quirk of the universe and two tragedies, Sam had the opportunity to become one of those legends.

All it would take was effort, tear, sweat, blood, and even more effort.

But Sam liked it that way. Granted, it would have been nice, if the game’s AI was stupid enough that he could cheese fights, and use shortcuts for quests, but that would result in a boring game.

After all, he wasn’t a speedrunner. He played games to enjoy them. Or for the story. Or the skills. Or the meta builds. Or the characters.

And now here was a game that would be able to provide him with every one of those things.

He couldn’t wait.

Sam spent a minute meditating, calming his racing mind, discarding ideas, thoughts, and emotions, slowly reaching a calm equilibrium.

With ever so carefulness, he gently reached for his mana and began to move it slowly, delicately, making sure to only move a little part, as he had other uses for the remaining amount.

The moment he completed one circle with his mana, he kept the mana moving, thankfully advanced enough that the mana continued to move even without his input for a little while, and slowly reached out with another part of his mana, pushing it out of his body haltingly, but keeping it close.

Despite his eyes being closed, Sam still saw himself being enveloped in a very fine and thin layer of mana spreading on his body like waves on the shore, while his mana also continued to circulate.

He knew that if he kept this up for a while, he would achieve his goal, but Sam wanted more. He knew it was possible, so why not try for it?

What are second chances for but giving things a try that he wouldn’t have thought to try in his previous life?

Or, as the ancient saying goes: ‘Banzai!’

Keeping up the mana circulation, and the mana shield, feeling himself straining under the effort, his new phantom appendage was being stressed incredibly, the new ‘growth’ still not prepared for this kind of effort.

But Sam knew it was possible, so he forged forward while marveling at how Future Unknown managed to create something utterly baffling but still amazing.

Slowly, very slowly, he reached for the third part of his mana, instantly feeling the connection to the circulation and shield stressing, but Sam continued.

He would do it!

Delicately wrapping the remaining mana the same way the skill did, though probably cruder than the automatic skill did, Sam slowly released the mana in a circular area around, methodically pulsing it with the rhythm of his heartbeat.

He felt himself sweat and shake, and he could see the mana circulation stagger, while spots began to appear on the mana shield while the pulse kept missing the heartbeat.

It was as if he was a fireman, but every time he doused a flame, another would pop up, and by the time he reached the new one, three more spots would be aflame.

But Sam didn’t give up. He knew it was possible, and by the gods, he would do it!

‘I can’t give up!’

Sam didn’t know how long he sat there, ignoring everything but his own heartbeat, and the pulses of mana.

He forgot about his own breathing. All he saw was the mana and how it moved.

One circle. One pulse. One wave.

One circle.

One pulse.

One wave.

Circle.

Pulse.

Wave.

Then, in an unforgettable moment, it happened.

The circle, the pulse, and the wave finally overlapped. Just as another cycle of mana began, a wave of mana began sweeping upon his body, while a pulse of mana left his body. Sam felt something click into place, and for an infinite moment, he was in total control of his mana.

He moved it around his body; he protected his body, and he knew what was around him.

Then the moment ended, and Sam found himself laying on his back, eyes unfocused, drenched with enough sweat that he felt he was swimming in his shirt, with Lucky curiously, and somewhat worriedly looking down at him. And more importantly, his sight was almost fully covered by notification screens.

Exhausted, he raised one hand and pat Lucky’s fur-covered head.

“I’m alright, don’t worry…”

The wolf whined a little, licked his hand, and then walked closer and laid down next to Sam, their bodies flush against each other.

Sam chuckled a little, then refocused his attention on the screens.

A moment later, the chuckle turned into a full blow of laughter, that was aborted after a few seconds when Sam realized he was actually hiding.

[Congratulations! You managed to cast two spells at once…]

[Congratulations! You managed to cast three spells at once…]

[Thanks to your miraculous effort, you gained +2 MAG!]

[Thanks to your accomplishment, you’ve acquired the Mana Synergy skill!]

[Thanks to your accomplishment, you’ve acquired the Multitasking skill!]

[Thanks to successfully utilizing every drop of your meager amount of mana, you gained the Mana Well skill!]

[You successfully broke through with a skill!]

[Basic Mana Control reached level 10 and upgraded into Intermediate Mana Control!]

[Gained Focused Mana Control subskill!]

[Due to your effort, you reached level 14 with the Meditation skill!]

[Thanks to reaching level 10 with the Meditation skill you gained Focused Meditation subskill!]

[Congratulations, thanks to your understanding of meditation, your Deep Meditation skill reached level 2!]

[Your Mana Sense skill reached level 4!]

[Your skill with magic allowed Mana Shield to reach level 13!]

[Gained Controlled Mana Shield subskill!]

Reading the deluge of notifications, Sam couldn’t help but think that it was a lot. He waited for a moment for the system to call him out for cheating, but when nothing happened he smiled, and with a small smile, still laying on the ground, he began checking his new skills. Some he knew from his inherited memories, and some were new.

‘So exciting…’ he thought, then chuckled a little to himself. ‘Numbers go brrrr…’

He first checked out his new main skills.

[Mana Synergy: Level 0/10 (0%) (Passive) Thanks to your combining compatible skills, you managed to find a synergy between them. This synergy is completely useless in battle, but when you train your skills and completely focus on them, the rewards from your training increase. When using two or more mana skills simultaneously outside of battle, the cost of their use is reduced by 1%, while you receive 1,1 times more experience in training.]

Sounded useful, and as he did a little math, it seemed after reaching max level with the skill, he would receive twice the result for 90% of the effort. Not the best skill, but still useful.

Next came something he was very familiar with. Multitasking was a skill that everybody acquired after some time playing the game.

[Multitasking: Level 0/100 (0%) (Passive) Enhances your ability to use two or more skills at once.]

It was short and sweet, but Sam cared more about the next skill as he had heard about it, but never knew how it was acquired or what it did. All he knew was that it allowed one of the most famous sorcerers to dominate every battle they appeared in.

[Mana Well: Level 0/5 (0%) You grasped something deep and abstract. Mana is like clay in your hand. Your body is a wellspring of Mana. Increases how much mana a Magic status point grants you. Current increase: Two times increase.]

Sam had to blink several times after reading the skill description, then had to read it several more times to comprehend what he had gained.

‘Oh man, that explains a lot…’

He chuckled and checked the other skills, incredibly happy with his gains.

[Intermediate Mana Control: Level 0/15 (0%) (Passive) You understand the basic concepts of mana control. You can now do more, achieve more, and gain more while manipulating mana. The skill increases the amount of mana regenerated at a time and decreases the cost of mana skills by 1%. The bonuses from the Basic Mana Control remain. +5 Mana Regeneration per Second]

[Focused Mana Control: Level 0/5 (0%) (Passive) Mana control when meditating increases. Decreases skills mana cost and increases mana regeneration when under the effect of Meditation skill. Bonuses are increased when under the Deep Meditation skill’s effect!]

[Controlled Mana Shield: Level 0/10 (0%) (Passive) The cost of the Mana Shield decreases when focused on it. Increases even more when the Meditation skill is active.]

Well, the last was a little useless currently, but later when Sam upgraded the Meditation skill enough to use it while in battle, it would shine.

Closing the notification windows, he checked his status screen.

[Name: Sam ‘Solar’

Level: 5 (88%)

Title: -

HP: 160/160

MP: 22/220

STR: 7

DEX: 7

AGI: 7

VIT: 8

END: 7

MAG: 11

PER: 8

WIS: 6

LUCK: 10]

Marveling at his amount of mana, Sam spent a few minutes simply staring at his status screen as his mana began to regenerate at a speed that would surprise a lot of people. Then another few minutes were spent looking through his skill list.

‘I have too little offensive skills,’ Sam thought as he contemplated the screen in front of him. ‘But the passives are nice. A few more and the synergy will be ridiculous…’

With that, he finally closed the screens and slowly sat up. He looked down at his drenched clothing, then chuckled.

“First a change of clothing, then let’s check on the bandits! Eh, Lucky?” The wolf just simply tilted his head and let out a confused growl.

He snickered, then simply shucked off the drenched article, and began to rummage through the nearest crate for something that wouldn’t make him look like a renaissance fair reject.

After a change of wardrobe, he quietly exited the armory and headed towards the suspiciously silent hall.

Quickly approaching the same position that he used to spy on the congregation of criminals, he couldn’t help but smile.

The hall was full of sleeping or based on their wounds, unconscious bandits strewn randomly across the room. Some were laying on tables, some under the table, some in-between. Sam spied a few sleeping in empty barrels, a few big, burly bandits spooning each other, and one person even asleep while hanging from a wall mount where they have been affixed by their surprisingly sturdy clothing.

However, Sam couldn’t help but frown.

‘Where is the boss?’

Shaking his head, Sam did a final check of his equipment, give Lucky a pat for luck, then slowly, but surely, began to creep into the room, hood drawn down, hiding his face.

For now, he ignored the comatose criminals, and first headed for the kitchen. It wouldn’t do to be surprised by an awake cook as he plundered the bandits. Nothing more embarrassing than being taken out by a frying pan!

Thankfully, the cooks were also passed out, though from what Sam saw, it was more from exhaustion than alcohol. He did a quick tour of the kitchen and lard, pocketing a few expensive-looking liquor bottles, while also making sure that there wasn’t some kind of hidden treasure there.

Unfortunately, Sam didn’t find any hidden treasure (aside from the alcohol, and a box of high-grade tea), but thanks to his Mana Sense spell, he did find a small button, that seemed to be connected to a wall that had nothing on it.

‘Probably an escape route…’

Mentally marking the spot, Sam turned around and left the kitchen, heading for the other end of the hell, where a few doors awaited him.

Looking at the three almost identical doors, he was stumped a little.

‘Which one doesn’t have a sleeping boss behind it?’

He was about to flip a coin when Lucky growled slowly in the direction of the door on his right.

“Alright, Lucky. We’ll go that way.”

He approached the door, opening it just enough to be able to slip through, then when he found himself once again in a corridor mined from rock, he just sighed and began to move, hugging the wall.

After a few minutes of uneventful walking, Sam noticed that the corridor seemed to be widening. Picking up the speed, soon he reached a wide cavern, holding to his surprise an entire stable, and several empty carts.

The horses in the stables neighed upon noticing him, or rather Lucky, but they quieted down real fast. Apparently, they were well-trained.

“Good job, Lucky!” The young wolf just wagged his tail as he looked up at Sam, proud. “Let’s look around!”

Sadly, there wasn’t much interest in the cavern aside from the horses, the equipment to service the horses, and the feed for the same horses. Shrugging, he sabotaged all the saddles, and then placed several strategic cuts on the spokes of the cartwheels.

‘Nobody is leaving here…’

Nodding to himself, he motioned to Lucky and began jogging back to the main hall, ready to try another door.