The people of Gnosia watch at Winford falls. Some point to the sky. Cheers are heard. Some cry from joy. People all run from their shelters and start celebrating.

**********

“He did it.” Claris says smiling happily. “That weirdo actually did it.”

Emmanuel nods and gets up. He says, “I will head back to the library.”

Claris looks at Emmanuel and frowns. “Sir, you still aren't at 100%. Maybe you should rest more.”

Emmanuel shakes his head. “Even though I'm weakened like this, do you think that there's anyone besides Winford that's a match for me?”

Claris stops and thinks, but then nods. “Take care sir.”

Emmanuel nods and leaves.

Archum says, “There's still work to be done. I'll catch the remaining rebels and restore order to Gnosia.”

One of the ministers say, “We'll calm the people down and tell them what's going on.”

Claris nods.

************

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

You have leveled up!

...

At the top of the tallest building, Null looks on at the wreckage falling that was formally Winford. He and falls due to his body's mana being overdrawn. The armor that he is wearing crumbles into pieces. That armor just couldn't handle the strain of all those multiple mana stones along with Winford's firepower.

Aldan also falls on his butt. There are multiple wounds on him, but despite his poor appearance. There's a big smile on his face.

Null's face then shows shock. There's something like a heartbeat coming in through Null's inventory. Null's pulls the item out, and to no one's surprise, it's the mystery book that Null had received. It's starts to glow and dim like a heart beat. Aldan looks curiously at what's going in.

To Null's surprise, there's is something else that's glowing. There's a painting inside this room. It's a humble picture, as it's a picture of a book with an arrow above the book pointing upwards. The painting then suddenly shoots a beam at the book Null has in his hand. The book starts to glow brighter and brighter until Null is consumed by the light.

“Null!” Aldan yells out.

­

**********

Null opens his eyes. To his surprise, he finds himself in a different place. He looks at his hands and sees that they are translucent.

'Ah. This must be another flashback.' Null figures out.

Null looks around. He appears to be in a one-room, small, shoddy, run-down house. There's a woman in the bed. She looks to be very ill. Her breathing is labored. There is no one else in the room right now.

'What am I doing here?' Null wants to know.

Suddenly...

“Mom!”

“Mommy!”

Two boys come in from outside. They seem to be young. One looks to be about 12 years old, while the others seems to be about 8. Their clothes are tattered. They come by their mother's bedside.

“*cough* *cough* Oh? You two seem excited. What happened?” The mother asks with a smile.

“We finally worked enough to earn food for you! You'll get better in no time!” The older boy says with conviction.

“Mother, you haven't eaten in 3 days. Please eat!” The younger looking boy said sadly.

“I will, but more importantly, are you two eating well?” The mother asks.

The two boys avert their gazes. Seeing this, the mother shakes her head.

“You two. Eat.”

The two boys look on in worry.

“But mother...”

“Mom, please...”

The mother looks at her two boys and says, “Alexander, Abel, my words are final. Eat.”

The two boys sigh.

Null looks at the amount of food that they are eating. It's a paltry amount. The food also looks like it had expired. The people looked malnourished.

'*sigh* I don't see any good things coming from this flashback.' Null thinks in his mind.

“Mom, I promise...” The older boy speaks up.

“Alexander?” The mom looks at him.

“I will cure you mom! I will become an alchemist! I won't let you die like dad!” Alexander says with tears with his eyes.

“All I've ever wanted is for my two boys to happy. As long as that happens, then I can die in peace.”

“Mom...” The younger boy Abel looks at his mother sadly.

“Mother! Don't say that!” Alexander yells at her mother.

Afterwards, the mother talks to her boys more, then she falls asleep.

The younger boy Abel cries. Alexander puts his hand on Abel's shoulders.

“I'm going to go back to work. We have to be strong. We don't want mom to worry about us right?”

Abel nods. Alexander then leaves the house and heads towards one of the places he works to earn his family enough to eat. Null looks around while he's following Alexander. The place he's in looks deplorable. There are even chained slaves around, doing work no one else wants to, such as changing out the septic system since there is no plumbing, and picking out seeds from fruits by hand.

It looks like Alexander stays in the ghettos. It looks as if the nobles own all the land around them, as the people in the slums have only small scale farms..

Compared to today in New Reality, where even emperors would send aid to their subjects if they were in trouble, people in power back then didn't care about the commoners at all. Death, disease, and poverty were rampant in the slums. The people in the slums are taxed heavily for what little they make.

Alexander makes it to a restaurant and goes into the kitchen. He grabs a washcloth and starts washing the dirty dishes present in the sink.

“If these dishes aren't done by the end of the night, I won't pay you!” An overweight man says looking at the people working while smirking.

A few hours pass by as Alexander is worked to the bone. When Alexander is done, he leaves the place. He barely made the allotted time today, so he got paid. When he's done, he runs off somewhere and sneaks off somewhere. Alexander starts to break into a gated community, sneaking past the guards.

He finds a building and looks into it through a window. When Null looks in the building, he sees that it's a classroom. Null sees the uniforms of the kids. They look like nobles. Null makes a deduction.

'These nobles must not be too high ranked. I doubt a little kid like this could break into this area if these nobles were really important.'

Null sees him learning letters, numbers, and words, writing down and repeating to himself everything he sees. To Null's surprise, Alexander picked up on things incredibly fast. He must be a genius. Null then sees the building that Alexander is learning from.

On the side of the building is a mage symbol Null has seen before. This school is actually a mage academy. Back then, people learned to read and write in mage academies. That was the equivalent of a school. People wanting to learn magic didn't start until they were 16. New Reality has a system where you couldn't level up or have a class until you turned 16, which coincidentally is the age in which a player is old enough to play.

This is why typically, NPC's at the same level are in general stronger than players. Players that don't know any better try to level as soon as they enter New Reality.

Before they turned 16, they learned math, history, and other general subjects. This was done on purpose. Although a person couldn't learn magic or level up before 16, you could still get stat boosts from doing various things. They are learning to get the boosts in intelligence and wisdom. For a mage, technique is an afterthought compared to the raw power you can produce.

When the lesson is over, Alexandria finds a place to meditate. Alexandria knows he has no talent as a mage, but he finds that he does his best thinking when he meditates. Feeling the mana that's inside of him produces a soothing effect in his mind. If he had talent, he would be able to feel at least a little of the elements in the air, but Alexander doesn't feel any at all. This matters little to him as he aims to become an alchemist.

A bright light flashes in Null's vision. When his vision clears, Alexandria looks a bit bigger. Null figures out that that must mean the light is like a fast forward into the future.

When Null sees Alexander again, the look on his face shows worry. His mother's condition is getting worse and worse. He doesn't know what to do. Suddenly, Alexander hears a voice.

“Selling health potions! Real cheap!”

A clean looking youth looks out here. It's rare for nobility to sell to the slums.

“How much for a potion?” Alexander asks the youth. He looks to be a few years older than Alexander.

“20 silver.” The youth says.

Null looks shocked. '20 silver for that health potion? But it's so small compared to the health potions of today, and 10 times more expensive!'

“Wow. Very cheap.” Alexander says nodding satisfied.

'Cheap!?' Null looks on in shock.

Alexander buys three of them.

“Pleasure doing business with you.” The youth says to Alexander.

Alexander soon heads back to the slum he lives in. Soon some people come and try to haggle him.

“Hey Alex.” Someone says to him.

“We saw you buying health potions.”

Alexander is silent and holds on tightly to his bag. The potions are within.

“We really don't want to do this, but we have no choice. Take his potions!”

Try as he may to old on to them, Alexander is just too weak. They end up stealing two of them. They saw how determined he was to hold on to that last health potion, so they let him keep it. He rushes home before anyone else gets any idea to steal his last potion. He shows the potion to his mother.

“Mom, take this. You will feel better.” Alexander says smiling sadly at his mother.

“Alexander, did you steal?” His mother says with a frown. “You do know how I feel about stealing.”

“I didn't steal. A nice person sold these health potions to me cheaply.”

His mother then sighs. She would rather him buy food for themselves, but since it's already been bought, she'll just take it.

When she drinks the potion, her face starts to clear up a little. Seeing the improvement in her condition Alexander gets a little happier.

He ends up going to work in a good mood. However, that good mood would not last long. Later when he comes back, he finds that his mother has become even more ill. He get's a bad premonition inside his heart.

He grabs the bottle and smells into it.

'He must have sold me expired health potions!'

Alexander gets angry, as he slams the bottle to the ground while yelling, “I can't trust anyone!”

Null finds this parallel between him and Alexander to be disturbing.

Alexander decides to take matters into his own hands from now on. He doesn't show up for work the next day. He steals some black clothes from a shop. The store owner sends his guards to try and catch him. Due to Alexander working so hard, and knowing the terrain so well, he is really physically fit. None of the guards could catch him.

Alexander chooses a spot where nobility likes to go into and waits. It didn't take long to find the person who sold him the expired health potions. Alexander balls his fists. Although this person is an aristocrat, he's not that high ranking. He's also one of the lousy alchemists. This alchemist is surrounded by two guards who happen to be warriors.

Alexander decides to put his plan into action. When the alchemist and his bodyguards walk to a certain area, Alexander pulls a wire. A slingshot made from vines holding a rock is released. The rock hits one of the bodyguards in the back of the head, knocking him out.

The other bodyguard pulls out his sword and protects the alchemist. Suddenly a whole bunch of rocks come out. However, that bodyguard is good. He uses his sword to parries all the rocks. While this going on, something tightens around the alchemist's feet.

“Waaaah!” The alchemist screams as he is dragged away. The bodyguard turns around as the alchemist is being dragged away. He attempts to chases after the alchemist, but that bodyguard is also hit in the back of the head with a rock and passes out. When the alchemist makes it to Alexander, Alexander's knocks him out. A few minutes then pass.

“Ooooh. My head.”

The alchemist wakes up tied up with a huge headache. Even though he's a low ranking alchemist, it's a general rule that the nobility are far more powerful than the commoners, so Alexander is taking the right precautions tying him up.

“What do you want!? If you want money, I have it! Just please let me go!”

“I want your alchemist book.” Alexander says, looking at the alchemist in disdain.

He's wearing a mask so that he doesn't get recognized.

“An alchemy book is an alchemist's pride and joy! I can't just hand it over!”

“If you refuse, I'll just take your life.”

The alchemist panics.

“If you untie me, I will gladly hand it over.”

“Do you think I'm an idiot? Open your inventory and pull out your book. I tied your hands up in front for this reason.”

The alchemist does what he's told. Alexander also steals all the money that's on him.

“Okay, it's done. Aren't you going to let me go?”

“You'll be let go when your guards wake up to untie you.”

The alchemist starts crying.

Alexander heads for the forests to hide out. Meanwhile, the alchemist was found and untied by hid bodyguards. He went to authorities afterwards. That alchemist knew from the way the person was dressed that he wasn't part of any known thieving guild. He was dressed like a commoner.

The police in this time were just attack dogs for those in power, so not that much different from today. They searched every house in the slums. They even searched Alexander's house, but they found nothing out of the ordinary.

Of course, Alexander wasn't stupid enough to buy anything or show up when the police were looking for suspicious activities. Alexander runs away into the forests. The beasts here are very powerful, so the nobles generally leave these lands alone. They could subdue these lands if they wanted to, but they just think it's not worth the effort. He knows this is only place he can hide out for now.

While Alexander is walking, a powerful monster comes out, slowly approaching behind him. It looks like a 10 foot long mongoose with sharp, long claws. When it gets close enough, just when it was about to pounce, the mongoose smells something awful to its nose and walks away. Alexander covered himself in substance very unpleasant smell to most monsters, so they'll generally stay away. However, this won't work on all the monsters in this forests.

Time passes as he spends time in the forest. He builds a tree house that takes him around a day to complete. When the heat from the police starts to lessen, he heads back home to check on his family. He makes it home to see how his family is doing. When he makes it inside, he sees that his mother isn't doing so well. He gives his brother some of the money he stole from the alchemist.

“Where did you get this?” Abel asks surprised.

“That's not important. Buy fresh food for yourself and mother. Buy fresh health potions. Don't buy any potions that are at a discount. Don't spend money extravagantly.”

Abel nods.

“Tell mother I'm going away for a while. I'll leave mother to you.”

Abel nods, “I'll be strong for mother.”

“Good.”

With that, Alexander goes back into the forest. He opens the alchemy book and reads how to make health potions. That's all he focuses on. There are terms he doesn't understand. He knows he can't go to the mage's library. It would be suspicious if a slum kid paid all that money to go to the library to look up alchemy terms.

That's pretty much yelling out he was the culprit. Since he doesn't know what terms mean, he decides to experiment. It's very slow. Words he doesn't understand he has to guess what they mean and experiment.

Luckily there are pictures next to the ingredients themselves, so he knows what to look for. If it was anyone else, they would have given up, or would have run into a dead end in which they couldn't crawl back from.

Slowly but surely, his errors become less. Months pass by. Today, Alexander finally perfects his health potion. The ingredients of the potion were nontoxic, so he had been using himself as the guinea pig. He hasn't even touch anything else in the alchemy book. He only wants to learn how to make health potions for his mother.

He makes a small cut on himself. When he drinks his health potion, the cut starts to heal. The potion isn't nearly as potent as a potion made by a true alchemist as he isn't one. However, that matters not to Alexander as he is very excited.

He is intelligent enough that he had memorized how to make the health potion while doing it. While he's working, he is spied on. Alexander had underestimated that noble. He paid a tracker to find out who it was that robbed him.

It would be a humiliation if people found out a slum kid had bested him, so he foolishly decides to go out himself for revenge.

The alchemist decides he will torture Alexander. He plans on giving him all kinds of poisons for Alexander to test. The tracker he hired told him that Alexander is weak, so he didn't need to worry about him. He heads towards Alexander. While walking, he triggers an early warning signal. Alexander sees it's the man that he stole the health potion book from.

Alexander runs away. The alchemist gets an evil smile on his face.

“Think you can run?! You are destined to live the rest of your life in a cage being my guinea pig!” The alchemist yells out, angry at the humiliation he received from Alexander.

Although they are both level 1, the alchemist has far greater stat gains than Alexander and better equipment. That's the gap that exists between commoners and nobility.

Alexander kicks a lever which activates a hidden trap. Projectiles are then shot towards Alexander's pursuer.

“You think your rocks can get through my armor!? Fat chance!”

He soon realizes that we was not pelted with rocks, but some sort of smelly substance. That alchemist gets angry.

He soon gains on Alexander. Just when he was about to cut Alexander down with his sword, he hears a roar. It's the giant mongoose Alexander had run into before. The alchemist looks on in shock as the mongoose cuts him down. He didn't even know how the mongoose killed him. The mongoose looks in Alexander's direction, but the smell Alexander is giving off is nauseating to him.

That mongoose then focuses on eating the alchemist he just killed. When it eats its fill, it walks away. Alexander comes back to the aftermath. The alchemist had dropped an alchemist book, and it looks to have more information than his previous alchemist book. Alexander smiles. He takes the book and decides to head back home.

Alexander had noticed that police presence had dropped off considerably. Some police see him and ask him questions, and he is soon left alone afterwards. When he makes it back to his house, he sees his mother in an even worse condition. Her skin had turned gray, and her labored breathing is worse.

She strains her head to see who had entered the room. When she finds it's Alexander, she smiles. She hasn't seen him in a long time. Alexander looks in shock at her deteriorating condition.

He hurriedly says, “Mom, I brought lots of health potions! Please drink them!”

The mother shakes her head.

“I... Don't think I will make it.” She says with a sad smile. She had held on for so long just so that she could see Alexander one last time.

Tears appear in Alexander's eyes.

“But...”

“Now Alexander, you are a very intelligent person, one of the smartest people I've ever seen. Abel, I've never seen someone with such high potential to be a mage. I wish you two were never born here.”

“Mom! Don't say that! If I were born a noble, I would probably be arrogant and heartless like them! I do not regret at all you and dad raising me! Those nobles! I will never forgive them!” Alexander yells out with tears in his eyes.

“Alexander, you must promise me.”

“Anything mom!” Alexander looks at his mother. He realizes these are her final moments, and he will not forget whatever it is that she promises.

“The people in this world are so heartless, but I can see it in their faces. The people are sad. People are stepping on others just to survive. They hate this world that forces them to act like this. People swindling and scamming others of their hard earned work. They hate having to resort to this because they see of no other option to survive. I'm sure you've seen this before.”

Alexander nods.

“Alexander, you are so intelligent. Please, I beg of you, don't take revenge against the nobles. Don't hold it against people that live in the slums for trying to survive. It's all they know. They were taught from birth that anyone not born a noble is trash, and they have never learned any other way.

Please. Use your intelligence to try to make the world a better place. Teach the people in this world a better way. At least give people a chance to change. Help those in need without asking for anything in return. I know you can do it. I know you will be a great person someday. I just don't want you to go down the wrong path.”

With tears streaming, Alexander says, “Mom, I promise. I will try to change the world for the better.”

“Abel, please use your power to protect. Don't revenge for my or anyone's sake. Do you promise?”

Abel can only nod with tears.

Their mother smiles. “Good. Thank you.”

She dies with a smile on her face.

Null thinks, 'That person is very wise. I see where this Alexander gets his intelligence from. She knew he was intelligent, so before he got to being too powerful and conceited, she said what she had to say to not get his ego too over inflated.'

Takes her body to grave. Places a boulder next to her grave. They stay a while to pay their respects.

Alexander then says, “Abel, there's no use in use being in this town anymore.”

Abel nods.

“We are going to get stronger.”

Abel nods again.

“I'll earn enough money to send you to a mage academy. We will honor mom's dream and change the world for the better!”

Abel gets a determined look and nods.

They take their meager belongings and leave. They don't know where they are going to go. While moving, Alexander meditates everyday and practices making new potions. Everyday he steadily gets better. One day, he gets a prompt that greatly surprises him.

For showing such proficiency in Alchemy, you have earned the Alchemy skill.

Alexander looks at the window in shock. Although you can earn skills by being proficient in something, Alexander has never heard of someone gaining the Alchemy Skill outside of the Alchemy Class. The Alchemy Skills are usually bestowed by a master from the greater Alchemy Class.

After a few months of traveling, they make it to a town called Cromer. This town is a near mirror image of the place he grew up in. There's a slum, a shopping district, and an upper class area. The people in the slums are constantly looking downwards as if there is no hope.

They buy a house in the slums. With the money Alexander stole, he could easily buy a small house in the noble district, but Alexander can't get over his hatred of the nobles. He's doing his best to deal with that because of the promise to his mother, but he knows that it will require baby steps.

When they get settled in, Alexander decides to start the first phase of his plan. He goes to a herb shop, buying a lot of ingredients, so much that the place that sold them had sold out. As for why Alexander bought a lot of ingredients, he knew that once his plan had gotten underway, people would try to block him, so he bought the ingredients ahead of time.

He opens a stall and starts selling the health potions he made cheaply. It would do no good to give them away, as Alexander still need funds to buy the things for his alchemy. Even though Alexander sells his potions very cheaply, people aren't buying, as they are skeptical. They know that people who sell cheap potions tend to be rip offs. No one buys them, but this doesn't discourage Alexander.

'Wait. The prices he is selling is around the same as the prices of today. Are they related, or is this just a coincidence?' Null ponders.

Soon, someone desperate comes. He had just come back from a hunt and was gravely injured. However he is poor, so he feels he has no choice but to buy Alexander's potions.

When he drinks the potion, he is surprised. The results show instantly. They are of an even better quality than the expensive potions he can't afford. That person tells others about this. People are skeptical at first, but the results start to show.

Word quickly spreads. Everybody starts buying potions from Alexander. People would much rather buy potions from Alexander than the other nobles, as he always sells to them with a friendly smile while also not looking down on them. It doesn't hurt that they are so cheap as well. Soon, Alexander's stall becomes the most popular place to buy potions in the slums.

Other alchemists in the area don't like Alexander. He's become so popular that even nobles started buying from him. Their sales are suffering as a result. They send people to threaten Alexander. He's not ready yet for a full confrontation with Cromer's Alchemy Association, so he's forced to slow down production. However, his first step had succeeded. The people now know about him.

That confrontation did remind Alexander though that his power is greatly lacking. He buys a sword and starts practicing the way of the sword.

Three years pass by. Alexander has finally saved enough money to send Abel to school. This also has the added benefit of helping Alexander with his reading. Abel soon teaches Alexander things that he has had trouble with.

Alexander catches on very fast. Soon, Alexander starts helping Abel with his work. Thanks to Abel, Alexander could now read more things he wasn't able to read before. It didn't take Alexander long to reach intermediate in the Alchemy skill.

Intermediate in Alchemy represents a major milestone. He can now work and negotiate with major powers in the city he's in if he now chooses to. Alexander starts the next phase in his plan. First, he goes to the warriors guild and hires warriors. They don't have to be powerful. They just can't be corrupt. He then goes to the archers guild to do the same thing.

He quickly ramps up production on his alchemy products. Thanks to his intermediate in alchemy, he can create a lot more things. His increasing demand lets him decide to hire more people. The people he hires are all from the slums. He pays people to search for ingredients in the forests, and also to sell his products. He upgrades his stand and creates a store.

Cromer's alchemy association had sent several people to threaten Alexander during this period, but they were all chased off. After the repeated attacks, Alexander has a conversation with his brother, the warriors, and archers.

“The Alchemy Association is really getting rampant.” A warrior comments while sharpening his sword.

“I don't think we have enough power to go against them yet.” Abel says sitting in a corner.

Alexander smiles to the people in the room and says, “I have a plan to deal with them. I will learn the blacksmithing skill.”

Abel looks at Alexander confused. “But Alex, you should focus on being an alchemist. You already have intermediate in the alchemy class. Why would you do that?”

“Ha. Abel, have you forgotten?” Alexander says while wagging his finger. “I don't have the Alchemy class. I only have the Alchemy skill.”

Realization hits Abel's face. Although he is greatly limited by not having the Alchemy Class in what he can do in Alchemy, he can gather other skills if he gets proficient enough. Without the Alchemy class, experience in the skill is 10x slower than if he had the class to start with. He also doesn't have the skills like Potion Creation or Ingredient Finder.

“Okay. I agree with your plan Alex.” Abel says.

Alexander goes to a blacksmith and pays for beginning blacksmith lessons. Like with Alchemy, he quickly catches on. The blacksmith who teaches him commends his hard work and talent. Alexander quickly levels up in this skill. He makes many unique and novel things. Since he has so much he's working on, he keeps a journal to write down all the things he's making.

Soon finds he has a lot to write and not enough time, so he decides to go to the calligraphy guild and learn calligraphy. Although he doesn't have the Ink Hand technique, the speed of his writing dramatically increases.

Since the people in the slums couldn't read, he needs pictures to help them identify ingredients. He goes to the painting guild and learns to paint. Soon, he finds he needs a lot of paper. He goes to the mage's library for a book on paper making techniques.

He buys a copy of book on how to make paper. Soon, he finds a way to mass produce paper production.

'This person is just too damn perfect. Quickly inventing new things and even reaching intermediate in a skill he doesn't even have a class in.' Null says frowning. 'He reminds me of my siblings.'

Alexander is now ready for next stage in his plan. He teaches people in the slums how to make his health potions. He has other types of potions, so he's not worried about his sales. The Alchemy Association had enjoyed their oligopoly for so long that they never even bothered trying to research new ways to make easy potions like health potions.

Soon, other alchemy stores not under the Alchemy Association pop up in Cromer. Alexander is proving to be a real headache for the Alchemy Association.

Because of Alexander's actions, he becomes a major power in Cromer. He had revitalized the slums. The people working under him have incredible benefits. Some people leave and make their own companies. Alexander smiles. He wants people to leave. He wants to strangle the powerful alchemist association. More people forming their own alchemy places means more people that are targeted instead of him.

Soon, the Alchemy association sends out a powerful force to combat Alexander. They put all of their money into this final stand for them. The warriors and archers had a tough battle, and the force was quickly subdued. The beginnings of the tech Null had seen is starting to show.

They had arrows covered in paralyzing poison. No causalities happened because of this battle. They were released and given a letter. This letter was for the Alchemy Association.

The assassins report their failure. The heads of the alchemy association are mad. They had spent all their money! Although they get a refund because of the failure, they don't have any method of dealing with Alexander.

The assassins give them the letter.

It says, “Dear Alchemy Association,

Hello! I'm the little kid that you have been trying to subdue the last few years. How are you faring with your nonstop failures? I just want you to know that I will not stop. You have two options laid before you. The first one is you can listen to my demands.

You will reduce the prices so that commoners can afford the health potions you create. You will also start hiring commoners as apprentices and journeymen. As a consolation prize, I will teach you how to make more efficient and powerful potions.

The second options is that you keep on opposing me. You will keep on failing while I expand and you will quickly become irrelevant. Either way, I will win. Choose wisely.

With love,

Alexander”

They know they have no choice but to choose the latter. The alchemy association maintains its independence, but in name only. They have been thoroughly gutted by Alexander. Now that he doesn't have to constantly worry about his safety, he greatly expands until he practically corners the entire market on potions in Cromer.

Periodically, Alexander gives the Alchemy Association better methods to make potions. Every time though, Alexander finds a way to make a potion better. They realize how formidable Alexander is, so as a sign of good faith, the alchemy association sends a copy of all their books to Alexander. It could also end up helping them.

He has lots of books to read, and so little time. Over time, he develops a Blacksmith Skill, Calligraphy skill, and Painting Skill. He had been constantly sparring with the swordsman in his group and gains the swordsman skill.

Years pass by. Something happens that surprises him. He had been meditating to feel his mana since he feels that's how he does his best thinking. He had gained a skill called Essence of Mana. He had heard that only the Mage Association could bestow this skill. How did he end up learning it?

He ends up experimenting with the new skill he received. He finds that other than helping him better sense the mana inside of him, it doesn't do anything special. However, that doesn't deter him.

People of goodwill in Cromer send Alexander lots of books in the hope of working with him. Alexander wonders if now would be a good time to start the next phase of his plan. He plans on opening his own library, but he would be competing with the mage association.

The mage association is nothing like the alchemy association. They're a unified force nationwide, and besides royalty, their the most powerful force in that country. They could easily crush Alexander if they wish to. They just don't see him as a threat.

When he sees the people in the slums, he decides to do it. Alexander gets people to build a small building. This is the first true library. Alexander teaches a select few people from the slums, who in turn promise in exchange for being taught will teach others. He also lets people read in this library for free.

These are the beginnings of the library system that are found all over New Reality.

Nobility who aren't total assholes also love him. They were always taught commoners were trash. Now they know better thanks to Alexander. The powers that be in Cromer are starting to get nervous. Years pass by. Soon, when Alexander turns 16, something amazing happens. A Window pops up.

You have achieved the prior prerequisites to gain the librarian class. The God of Knowledge has acknowledged you and wants to bestow this class to you.

Prerequisites you have achieved:

Teach people without asking for anything in return.

Build a place of learning that anyone is able to join.

Spreading your ideals so that others could emulate you.

If you were to change into the librarian class, you would be the first in history to become a true librarian. Do you accept?

Seeing this, Alexander starts to laugh happily. Everyone looks to see what's the matter. Alexander smiles and says, “I happily accept!”

New stat added: Knowledge

For being the first to be the librarian class, you have gained 1000 Fame. +50 intelligence +50 wisdom +100 knowledge.

99% reduction in hand held weaponry

30% reduction in ranged weaponry.

Ice cold water drops on Alexander's mood.

“99% reduction!? That means that swordsmanship is useless to me now!”

Null couldn't help but snort. He had the exact same expression when he became a librarian.

'Guess even the first librarian isn't immune to how much the class sucks.' Null thinks to himself.

A white light then envelops Null's vision. He opens his eyes and jolts up. He appears to be in a bed. Aldan is sitting by his bedside.

“Null, you're alright!” Aldan says relieved.

Null looks around in his bed.

“Where am I?” Null asks.

“In the hospital. When you were hit by that white light, you wouldn't wake up!”

Null looks surprised. “How long was I out?”

“A whole 20 minutes!”

Null looks at Aldan deadpanned. He then gets out of bed and grabs the mystery book that's on the table, unaware that the transmutation circle on the book had changed.

“Where are you going?” Aldan asks.

“To the library. I held up my part of the bargain when I helped rescue that librarian and defeated Winford. I want what's owed to me.” Null says while walking out.

Null and Aldan make their way to the library. Everywhere they walk, people cheer.

“It's him! It's really Null!”

“Null please? Can I have your autograph?”

“How did you get so strong Null?”

“Sir Aldan, to think you were so amazing! Why did you play a crackpot and hide your skills?”

Null frowns from all the attention. He finds he just can't deal with this. He runs away, and Aldan chases after him. He then covers his face and changes his clothes.

'From now on, I'm keeping a mask on when I'm around people.' Null says determined.

When he walks by, people don't recognize him. Aldan was a considerable distance away. He knows how Null feels about people. Now that Aldan is a bit famous too, he just decides to take the guffawing fans to himself. Eventually, they both make it to the library. Null is surprised when he sees Emmanuel, Claris, Archum, and the ministers there.

Null had only wanted to see the minister that promised him his reward. The others are unnecessary.

“Null, on behalf of Gnosia, I would like to thank you for saving our city.” The minister says to Null.

“Okay.” Null says with half lidded eyes.

They can tell Null doesn't care, so they get straight to the point.

Claris is the first to start.

“Null, Winford dropped something when he died.”

Claris hands Null the blueprint for Winford's most powerful robot. The important thing about Winford's most powerful robot is that all his research went into it. Null is surprised.

“Wouldn't this greatly help you? Why would you give it to me? I probably would have never found out that you kept it. This makes no sense to me.” Null asks Claris.

“You really don't think much of people do you? You defeated Winford, so you get what he dropped.”

Null shakes his head and says, “It was not just me. It was also Aldan. I would have never been able to beat Winford on my own.” Null tells them.”

“Well, it's not we can split this or copy it. The Copy-Paste skill only works on things with ink. This blueprint is a hologram, an Aldan insisted that you have it.”

Null opens up his blueprint skill and takes out a pencil. It takes him a while, but he manages to completely replicate Winford's blueprints.

“Aldan, this is for what I owe you.” Null hands Aldan the blueprints.

“Nullll! You're the best! *sniff* I'll always remember your kindness! *sniff*” Aldan says.

“Now that that's taken care of, it's time that you made your decision Null.” Claris tells Null.

“What do you mean?”

“I'm saying would you like to class change into a tinkerer?”

“A tinkerer?” Null says intrigued.

He's seen what tinkerers can do. Although blacksmiths are good with metalworking, they don't really specialize in inventing and advanced tech. He thinks that the tinkerer class would be a lot better for him than the blacksmith class. He's thinking of choosing it.

“Be warned however. If you were to choose to be a tinkerer, most of the accumulated skills you have accrued will either disappear, or be downgraded to just a skill, so choose wisely.” Claris tells Null.

You now have a chance on being a Tinkerer. If you become a tinkerer, you could now handle build technology with system assist and design new technology. You would also be the first foreigner to be a tinkerer. Be warned however that if you do change classes, you will lose the librarian class, alchemy class, painting class, calligraphy class, and transmutation circle skills.

Do you accept?

Null thinks long and hard. He won't be able to make that advanced tech he's been wanting to make without the system assist, as he knows very little about engineering. On the other hand, all the skills he has accumulated so far will be for naught. He will even lose the transmutation circle skills.

'Do I have to choose?' Null thinks. 'Will I really have to give up on my dream of building some advanced tech if don't become a tinkerer? Wait. In the first flashback I saw with Alexander, he had advanced tech, and yet he still did alchemy. That means his class remained the same! Okay. I've decided.'

“Thanks, but no thanks. I'll stick with being a librarian.

You have rejected the class change

“Oh, a pity. You would've made a great tinkerer.” Claris said with a shrug.

“Even though you won't be a tinkerer, you'll always be an honorary one in my book Null!” Aldan says with a smile.

“Now that that is taken care of, we will have to choose a new head tinkerer since Winford betrayed us.” A minister says stroking his beard.

Claris smiles also nodding. “I agree.”

They all then look at Aldan.

“Aldan, will you accept the position of new head tinkerer?” The minister asks Aldan.

“Wha-Wha-Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!? Me!? But-But-But Claris!”

Aldan can't believe what he's hearing.

Claris tells Aldan, “We plan on reinventing the entire city with this tech, and you know it better than anyone here. You are the person best qualified to be head tinkerer.”

Aldan eyes open wide. He then gets a determined expression on his face. “It would be my honor to be head tinkerer!”

The minister smiles. “Good. We have a lot of work to do and it will be hard.”

“I'm ready for the challenge!” Aldan says with fire in his eyes.

Null doesn't show it on his face, but he's happy for Aldan. However, being happy for Aldan is not why he is here. Emmanuel notices the impatient look on Null's face.

“Come with me.” Emmanuel tells Null.

Null nods and follows. They head to the second floor of the library. When they're alone, Emmanuel asks Null what he saw. Null said he saw Alexander's life before he became a librarian.

Emmanuel is surprised. “His name was Alexander?”

“You don't even know his name?” Null asks surprised.

“Our history of that time period was lost. We don't even have his name. What else did you see?”

Null tells Emmanuel the accounts that he saw. Emmanuel gets a book and uses Ink Hand to write down everything Null had seen. Emmanuel gets surprised, angry, and happy over Null's tale.

“Why weren't you able to see it?” Null asks. “After all, you are far more proficient and more powerful than me.”

“Maybe I wasn't able to fulfill a condition that you were able to.” Emmanuel ponders. “But that's enough of that. That's not why you're here, right?”

Null nods.

Emmanuel pulls out a book from seemingly nowhere. The book is titled, “Transmutation Circles for Dummies.”

He hands it to Null.

“Thanks.” Null says to Emmanuel.

“You're welcome. That reminds me. You've already embarked on uncovering the history of Alexander, but what you saw was only the very beginning.”

Null gets a bad feeling.

“Alexander had established a friendship with the people of the fishman race. However, what he did is shrouded in mystery as that history was wiped out. It was said that the beast that protected the history turned on the fishmen and became a powerful calamity. Once a year, that calamity comes out of hiding and attacks the fishmen causing numerous calsulties.

Will you help uncover what happened and save our fishman allies if you can?”

Quest: Find out the missing history and help the fishmenQuest Information: Long ago, the fishpeople's guardian turned on them. Now, once a year, the guardian comes out of hiding and attacks them. Will you help them? Will you uncover more of the missing history?

Reward: Unknown

Quest Rank: A

Penalty if refused: Permanent ban from all libraries everywhere. Libraries will say bad things about you and keep decreasing your Fame and reputation.

Do you accept?[/size]

“Heh. No.”

You have rejected the quest.

'I don't plan on meeting with anyone ever again. So what if I'm banned for life from libraries? That doesn't matter to me at all. It doesn't help that it's a damn A-rank as well. So Ptah, take your quest and shove it.'

“But Null, you are the only one with the power and the trust capable of accepting this mission. I beg you to reconsider. Will you do it?”

The quest message pops up again. Null starts to sweat. This all seems so familiar to him. Null tries to escape, but as before, the place turns into adamantium. Null knows that there is nothing he can do. He sighs.

“Fine then. Give me the mission in which I have no choice but to accept.”

You have accepted the quest.

“You did good Null.” Emmanuel nods in satisfaction. “I know you won't let us down.”

Null looks angrily in the sky and thinks, 'Ptah, if I'm ever able to meet you again, I'm kicking you in the balls! I will kick you so hard, that your nuts will have achieved escape velocity! Your nuts will be like protons gone through the Large Hadron Collider!' Null vows. 'Well, it's not like I have to start right away. I can take all the time I want to complete this mission, so there's no rush. I'll enjoy my solitude in the meantime.'

Null skims through the book he received.

“There aren't any powerful circles in here like that teleportation circle.” Null says frowning. “I don't even see any elemental circles. What's going on?”

“Null. You, me, and everyone before had to start from the basics before moving up.”

“Okay, but I wasn't planning on coming back here. What do I do when I learn everything in this book?”

“Null, you will learn to create new and better transmutation circles. Transmutation circles are great if you have Transmutation Circle Activation as the technique, but they have one fatal weakness: Using a transmutation circle over and over again won't level it up at all.

Unlike true mages who can improve by doing techniques over and over again, using the same transmutation circle won't let you improve at all. You can use a certain transmutation once or a billion times all you want, but the power that transmutation circle gives will remain the same.

The only way to improve is to create new transmutation circles yourself, and that's why I'm giving you this book on the basics. You won't go anywhere if you blindly follow in my, or anyone else's footsteps. That would greatly limit your potential.”

“Give me the teleportation circle.”

“No. Go out and find one on your own if you want one so bad.”

“I want the teleportation circle.”

“Get out.”

Emmanuel kicks Null out the library. To add insult to injury, he teleported Null out with a teleportation circle.

'That why you smell like rotting paper you old man! Go die from having a bad hip already!' Null thinks in his mind.

Null then starts leaving the city. He makes it to the exit when he hears someone.

“Wait!” Someone calls out to him.

It's two people: Aldan and Claris.

Claris hands Null a book and says, “This is for you. I imagine that Emmanuel didn't give you any useful transmutation circles. Don't hold it against him as he's just strict. This book teaches you how to make mana stones. I imagine finding mana stones will be incredibly difficult, and the armor you will probably make will rely on this right?”

Null didn't even think about that. He does need very expensive materials for the armor he wants to make.

“Why are you giving this to me? As I recall, you hate foreigners.” Null tells Claris.

“You rescued me from my despair, so this is the least I can do.” Claris tells Null.

Null nods. A question then pops into his mind.

“Do you know where I can find a place rich in minerals?”

Claris nods. “Try the Verdonic Mountains. Parts of that mountain are the territory of the dwarves. It's one of the most resource rich places in the world. It will take a while to reach there. Do you have a map with you?”

Null nods and takes out his map. She marks the area on his world map. Aldan looks like he's about to cry.

He then says, “Null, Gnosia will forever be your ally! Anything you need, you can come by anytime!”

Null nods. He thanks them both and finally leaves Gnosia.

'Good riddance. Now my life of solitude begins in New Reality. Now that I think about it, my mining skill is low leveled. The Verdonic Mountains probably won't help me in any way. *sigh*' Null thinks to himself.

********

Around three weeks later after Null left Gnosia. Someone had entered Gnosia, even though entering here requires a specific transmutation circle. This person's figure was blurry, as if he was there and not there at the same time. He appeared to be walking slowly, but no one had noticed him at all. What's strange about him is that he appeared with a red cloak covering him.

'Hmm... No sign of Winford. Did he fail? No matter. I already got what I needed from here anyway.'

He looks around at everyone smiling and going on with their day. He gets a pondering look.

'Should I destroy this city? Should I destroy it in one fell swoop or should I destroy it systematically? Their screams of terror could prove to be amusing. Maybe I could act as a savior and see hope in their eyes. Hmmm... Nah. I've already done that plenty of times. The reactions are always the same. That's too boring.'

He hears the conversations around him.

“When I grow up, I want to be as powerful as Null was!” Someone says.

The red cloaked man's interest is peaked. Null? He's already recorded all the most powerful people in Gnosia. Null is someone he's never heard of.

“I will never forget the sight of Null defeating Winford. I wonder. Are all foreigners that powerful?”

The red cloaked man's interest is once again peaked. A foreigner named Null? He smiles. There are a lot of powerful players named Null. He gets an amused smile on his face. Seeing as he got what he came for, he leaves. Even though he's walking slow, no one is even able to see him.

'Null huh? What should I do when I meet him? It's always so amusing seeing cocky players get utterly destroyed without being able to fight back. Maybe I will slowly destroy his way of life and drive him mad. Maybe I will find out his identity in real life and ruin his life to the point of suicide. That could prove amusing.

Better yet, I could train him, as I have yet to find someone who truly challenges me. Winning all the time is boring. Should I wait till he's stronger? I don't know. I'm bored. Times are too peaceful. Maybe I should start another war. No. It's too early.'

To this person, people are nothing more than his playthings to manipulate as he sees fit. Humanity is nothing but play dolls in this man's eyes. He is always curious to how someone will react to some effect. Be it happiness, sadness, despair, or hope, he finds enjoyment pulling these different emotions out of other people. However, to other people, this person wears a mask of a kind, caring individual.

This red cloaked man is not the red cloaked man from Null's flashback, as he had died thousands of years ago. This red cloaked man is his successor. He is not an NPC. He is a player.

What's unusual is that for the class that he picked, he was well above level 200 before he was able to become this class. This class is the most difficult class to become. It's even far more difficult than unlocking transmutation circle skills, or unlocking the annihilation mage skills.

This person has the most powerful class from the start: Deities' Emissary. The more gods want you to work for them, the bigger share of their power you will receive. He used his sharp tongue and caring persona to convince many gods to let him work under them, to the point that he had long since surpassed the original red cloaked man.

He is by far New Reality's most powerful player, though the world doesn't know it yet. If you were to look in the top rankings, you would not find this person. If Null were to ever see this person, he would look very familiar to him.

********

Author's Note: So that ends the Gnosia ark. Next ark, Null starts his training in the transmutation circle skills and starts the creation of his brand spanking new armor. There's a problem though. The materials that he is after are incredibly rare, incredibly expensive, and incredibly owned by other powerful forces. Will Null ever find the solitude he wishes for? Find out in another 7-8 months!