I was Level 20. My stats were good, for a guy whoâd been in this world for less than a day. My physical skills were leveling up nicely. But there was a glaring inefficiency in my build, and it was starting to bug me.
My MP bar.
It sat there below my HP, full and untouched. One hundred percent useless. My Intelligence and Wisdom stats, which I'd been neglecting in favor of Strength and Stamina, were the source of this resource, yet I had no way to spend it. It was like having a bank account full of a foreign currency with no exchange booth in sight. It was dead weight. A waste. And if there's one thing a lifelong grinder can't stand, it's waste.
The System said new skills came from "focused, repeated action." So far, my actions had all been physical. Swing a branch, punch a slime, throw a rock. But what if the "focus" part was more important than the "action" part? What if I focused on using my mana?
I needed to test the theory. I walked over to the stream and picked up a smooth, grey stone, about the size of my palm. It was a perfect projectile. I already had [Throwing Lv. 2]. The baseline action was established. Now, I needed to add a variable.
I held the rock and tried to will my mana into it. Nothing happened. The rock remained a rock. My MP bar remained full. I felt like an idiot.
Okay, thinking wasn't enough. It had to be an action. I tried to remember the feeling of leveling up, that subtle jolt of energy that settled into my body. Maybe that was it. I closed my eyes, focusing inward. It took a few minutes of silent concentration, but I found it. A small, warm pool of potential deep in my gut. My mana pool.
Right. Now to move it.
I focused on pushing a tiny bit of that warmth down my arm, through my palm, and into the stone. It felt like trying to push water through a clogged pipe. Most of it fizzled out, but a tiny trickle seemed to reach my hand. The rock felt infinitesimally warmer. I threw it at a tree. It bounced off with a dull thud. No explosion. No magic. Just a thrown rock. But my MP bar had dropped.
[MP: 54/55]
One point. One measly point of mana was spent. It was the most encouraging failure of my life. It meant the System was recognizing my intent, even if the result was garbage.
So I did what I do best. I started grinding.
I picked up the rock, focused, pushed one MP worth of energy into it, and threw it. Then I walked over, picked it up, and did it again. And again. And again. The sun climbed higher in the sky. It was the most boring, tedious grind Iâd ever subjected myself to. There were no flashing lights, no rising XP bars. Just me, a rock, and a slow, draining blue bar in the corner of my vision.
After about the fiftieth throw, I got better at it. I could push the mana into the rock more easily, and it felt slightly less like a rock and more like a hand warmer. But the effect was still the same: it hit the tree and fell to the ground. This was probably a huge waste of time. Maybe you needed a staff, or a spellbook, or some magic words whispered in an ancient tongue.
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I was about to give up and go back to clubbing goblins when I decided to try something different. Instead of just pushing one point of mana, I pushed ten.
This time, it felt different. The warmth in my hand wasn't gentle; it was a hot, buzzing energy. The smooth grey stone began to glow with a faint, pale blue light. It pulsed in my palm, and I could feel the raw potential inside it.
I didn't even aim. I just lobbed it into the forest.
The glowing stone didn't just thud against a tree. It hit the trunk and detonated with a sharp crack. A small crater of splintered wood appeared on the bark. It wasn't a fireball, but it was a hell of a lot more than a simple rock could do.
And then, the glorious sound.
Ding.
[Through the repeated action of imbuing an object with mana and throwing it, a new skill has been created.]
[You have created the Active Skill: Mana Shot Lv. 1!]
I almost laughed out loud. I pulled up the skill description immediately.
[Mana Shot Lv. 1 (Active)]
[Gathers a small amount of mana into a projectile of pure energy and fires it at a target. Cost: 10 MP.]
It had evolved beyond the rock. I didnât need a physical object anymore. The System had taken my crude, repetitive action and refined it into an actual spell.
Just then, a goblin poked its head out from behind a bush, drawn by the noise. Its beady little eyes widened as it saw me. It hissed and raised its pointy stick.
Perfect timing.
I raised my empty hand, palm forward, just like in the games. I focused on the skill, on the feeling of that buzzing energy. A ball of blue light, the size of my fist, coalesced in front of my palm.
"Eat this, you tutorial trash," I muttered.
The bolt of energy shot forward with a low buzz. It wasn't fast, but it was accurate. It struck the goblin square in the chest. There was no splatter, no cry of pain. The goblin just... ceased to exist. One moment it was there, the next there was a wisp of smoke and two copper coins clattering to the ground. It was completely, utterly obliterated.
I stared at my hand, then at the smoking patch of grass where the goblin had stood. The power difference between this and my stick was night and day.
The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn't need to find a teacher. I didn't need to discover ancient magic tomes. I could invent my own combat style from scratch. Any action, any weapon, could be a vehicle for mana. The possibilities were⦠limitless.
My mind started racing. If throwing worked, what about my other skills?
I looked down at my fists. [Unarmed Combat Lv. 2].
I turned to a thick, unoffending tree. I took a stance and focused, just as I had with the rock. I pulled that now-familiar energy from my core, not into my palm, but wrapping it around my knuckles like an invisible glove. My fist began to glow with the same blue light.
I punched the tree.
BOOM.
The impact was deafening. The tree shuddered, bark flying everywhere. A deep, fist-sized indentation was left in the wood. My knuckles didn't even hurt.
And right on cue.
Ding.
[Through the repeated action of striking an enemy with a mana-infused fist, a new skill has been created.]
[You have created the Active Skill: Mana Strike Lv. 1!]
I looked at my glowing fist, then back at the mangled tree. A slow, predatory grin spread across my face.
Forget the branch. The real game was just getting started.