Chương 69: B2—Chapter 3: London II

I struggled through a book about Mana Manipulation versus Mana Control. The first pages had a loooong, lyrical explanation that Mana Control was the next level after Mana Manipulation and that a wizard should strive to achieve it. The book was thinner than the others, a little over a hundred pages instead of five hundred, and the language was relatively readable. Still, like every other wizard book, it had its issues.

The main one was that no matter what it claimed, Mana Manipulation and Mana Control sounded exactly the same. It had statements like: " Mana Manipulation is the art of guiding the wandering breath of the world, coaxing loose strands of power to swirl around intention like mist around a lantern, shaping the world with borrowed whispers of creation itself.

Whereas Mana Control is the discipline of urging the deep-sleeping spark within all things to stir, persuading the quiet heart of the world to listen, to wake, and to hum in low chorus beneath the hand that calls it."

"It's exactly the same, you stupid book!" I argued with it. The book remained unimpressed and droned on in the same vein for over a hundred pages. Despite being a small book compared to the rest, I wrestled with it for over two weeks and still didn't get it. I rubbed my face, flipped another confusing page, and groaned into the empty room. Meanwhile, Lis had already finished six books from the new batch I gave him. It annoyed me how much faster he learned compared to me.

I growled every time another neat stack of books he'd already finished appeared on my desk. The next evening, over dinner, I finally asked, "I know you have the Mind power orb and are a Researcher and a Scholar, but your speed seems way faster than mine. I'm about to finish the fourth book you gave me, and you've already finished almost a hundred. How can I increase my speed?" I pushed my plate aside and leaned forward, hoping for some miracle trick. Lis shrugged and reached for his cup.

"You cannot compare us. I have a high level of Clarity and Mind Index; you don't."

"How exactly does it work?"

"Clarity sharpens my understanding, enabling me to grasp things faster, better, and more thoroughly, you might say," he said, tapping his temple with two fingers.

"Every evening, when I finish studying, I activate the Mind Index ability, which cross-references everything I learned that day with the rest of the data stored in my memory. It creates an overall picture instead of having lots of unrelated pieces of knowledge."

"That's amazing!" I said, eyes widening. He nodded and smiled, looking smug, almost preening in his chair. After a minute, I asked, "Does Clarity also have special properties like Luck?" I poked at the last piece of food on my plate, trying not to sound jealous.

"Of course. All the special traits have two additional aspects: one is directional, and the other is passive. With Clarity, if there is a topic I don't understand because I lack knowledge, I can activate the first aspect and sense the direction in which I can find the missing data. The second aspect is my favorite. When I read a text, and it does not matter what text, the important data appears in a clear, dark text, and all the unimportant things, the unnecessary filling, appear in light, almost transparent text."

I stared at him, dying of jealousy. My fork nearly dropped. I needed a way to keep the book exchange going, or he would finish learning all the books I had, and I wouldn't have access to the other books in his library.

"Did you get the class you wanted?" I asked.

"Of course not; I have not done anything yet," he said, shaking his head.

"What do you mean you haven't done anything? You've studied almost a hundred books!" I exclaimed and threw my hands up.

"Yes, I learned. But I didn't take any actions in the real world that demonstrated this knowledge and made me eligible to receive the class."

"Is that why my Wizard class didn't progress with everything I learned?" He nodded.

"Yes. We progress not from learning but from doing. But before we can do, we must learn. You are now learning the basics of mana and magic. Once you gain sufficient knowledge, you will begin to apply this knowledge, leading to an increase in your class's level."

"What about the ritual I performed?"

"First, your class is not a Ritualist but a Wizard," he said, pointing at me.

"Second, you cannot get double benefit from the Guidance, and you already got the benefit. Rue as your familiar."

"Huh?" That was new.

"What do you mean? What double benefit?"

"You can buy a hundred spells with Ability Points, but you will never obtain the Mage class. That is because you didn't earn it, but bought the spells through the skill the Guidance gave you. You have already benefited," he explained patiently.

"But if you clear dungeons and earn the spells as rewards and then use them, or apprentice to a Mage, at some point you will get the class from the Guidance. Why do you think I didn't buy the engineering skills but am learning them the hard way? I don't want to lose the chance to get the class I want. Alternatively, you mentioned that you were harvesting crystals from monsters. You will never gain a level from doing it. You already receive the benefit, the crystal.

But if you construct a spell to harvest crystals, you will get at least a level. Why? You did something that does not really benefit you, as you don't need it, but it benefits others." I harrumphed in disappointment and slumped back in defeat. Rue returned home drenched, and I had to dry him. He stood there dripping all over the floor, his tail wagging as if he had just returned from the best adventure ever.

He made friends with all the kids in the neighborhood, so he would leave in the morning and come home only for dinner. At first, some of our neighbors were afraid of him, but over time he became the most beloved dog in London. Everyone discovered he was a bottomless pit, so they all fed him, and judging by his breath, he also found a few neighbors willing to give him a beer almost daily. Lis and I slogged through our studies, but Rue was having the time of his life.

While searching online for more workshops, I stumbled upon the reloadable Visa prepaid card. That gave me an idea for solving the book issue. Well, actually, my speed issue and the fear that Lis's books wouldn't be available anymore. Laptop in hand, I browsed for hours. On Amazon, I purchased all the textbooks I could find, not just engineering ones.

Meticulously, I compared my collection with the selection offered, making sure I bought one copy of everything they had for Lis and copies of the books I was missing for myself. If his mana rose through study, I was sure he would appreciate having a mountain of things to learn. Next, I scoured other textbook websites and bought all the books I couldn't find before, clicking through page after page until my eyes went numb. After a few days, huge shipments began arriving.

The delivery guys gave me the same tired look each time, and I pretended not to notice as I dragged the boxes inside. I separated my books from Lis's and stored them. Once all the shipments had arrived, I called Lis into the living room.

"Give me back all the books I gave you," I said. His face fell.

"Why?"

"It's a surprise," I said, grinning. He didn't seem pleased, but he cooperated and returned all my books, stacking them on the table and floor with a stiff expression. After I finished putting everything away, I started taking out box after box of new books. Soon, the entire living room was buried under boxes. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"These are all your copies," I said, waving at the boxes.

"There's not just engineering here, but every subject I could find a textbook on." He stared at me in shock.

"Thank you so much!" A moment later, he lost all restraint and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug that squeezed the air out of me. When I finished giving him all his books and managed to breathe again, I said, "Now I want my exchange. I know you can't give me your books, but I bought a copier, and if you agree, I want to copy all of them."

"Of course," he said, nodding enthusiastically while patting a box. It took him half an hour to give me my share of the loot, and I stored it separately so it wouldn't mix with mine. For the next seven months, between my classes, I copied books and filed them in separate folders. The conflict between technology and mana was way worse than I thought. I attempted to copy a runic-language book, and after pressing Start to copy the first page, the copier died on the spot.

I wasn't sure it was the book, so I bought another copier. That one died too. I tested a workaround and snapped a photo of the page on my phone. The phone died. My camera handled magic well, so I loaded a fresh roll of film and photographed the book's pages. During development, the film came out all scrunched and warped, as if someone had chewed it. It was annoying. Many of the books I set aside had runes, magic script, magic circles, and rituals, so it looked like I wouldn't be able to copy them the easy way.

I inspected all the books with a magical aspect, and each was different. The paper was very thick and completely saturated with mana. I held one page up to the light, and it felt more like solidified magic than paper. I visited an office supply store and bought various types of thick paper. Back home, I tried to saturate the paper with mana. No matter what I tried, the paper crumbled into tiny specks. After searching the internet, I discovered parchment.

I purchased a package and attempted to imbue the parchment with mana. It worked. Further investigation revealed that manufacturers made some parchment with real leather and some with artificial leather. Not taking any chances, I ordered large packages of parchment from places that specified genuine leather. That's how I spent the next month: going to classes, saturating parchment, and copying books either with the copier or by hand while regenerating.

A month after I started copying books by hand, Lis saw me doing it and watched me with a puzzled expression.

"Why do you copy books by hand?"

"Because these books kill the copier."

"Of course." He nodded.

"Runes and magic scripts always contain mana, so they'll obviously destroy an electronic device. But why don't you buy a spell to do the copying? You have enough points now." He looked at me as if the solution were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Because I didn't think of that…" I admitted, rubbing my neck. He laughed under his breath and turned toward his room.

"Wait," I called. He stopped and looked back over his shoulder.

"Didn't you tell me to develop spells myself?" I asked.

"How come you're telling me to buy it?" He gave me a pointed look.

"Do you have even a notion of an idea how to build such a spell?" My face heated up. I shifted my weight, fidgeted, and shook my head. He lifted a finger and pointed at me.

"Exactly. You need to first study magic basics to actually understand what you're supposed to do, and from there start building basic spells. Of course, you can wait until you do and build the spell instead of buying it, but I thought you wanted the books now."

"Alright, fair enough," I conceded. I checked the spell list, and there were indeed copying spells. One of them was Copy Magical Text, which cost three Ability Points. For the next three months, I split my time between fighting classes and copying. COPY MAGICAL TEXT Copy Magical Text is a utility spell that duplicates pages containing runes, magical scripts, or mana-active diagrams. The caster channels mana through the original page and imprints an exact replica onto a new page without altering the source.

The spell accurately preserves all glyphs and mana patterns, making it ideal for archiving or study. However, the spell cannot be used to copy spell scrolls. Spell scrolls contain active mana constructs rather than passive writing, and attempting to copy one destabilizes the magic and destroys the scroll. Cost: 3 Ability Points I finished copying Lis's entire library. The process took over a year. By the time it was done, I had also completed most of the fighting lessons.

I stuck with each one until I gained the ability and brought it up to level three before moving on to the next. Initially, each sword style appeared separately on my profile, but one day, after adding the fifth type of sword, all five compressed into Multi-discipline swordsmanship and dropped to level one. I raised it back to level three, then switched to a different sword style. It dropped to one again, and I had to bring it up to three all over again.

For some reason, it was fun watching the numbers jump up and down. It felt a bit like playing with the system. Of course, everything else I studied also climbed to level three, but the sword's level bouncing all over the place was the most fascinating. Somewhere along the way, I was ready to take off my wedding ring. I didn't remove it entirely, but slipped it onto a chain around my neck instead. Around that same period, while browsing online, I came across Udemy and Skillshare.

Calling it a gold mine would've been an understatement; there were diamonds in there too. We stopped searching for physical workshops and shifted fully to online courses. By then, I'd accumulated 58 Ability Points, while Lis had over 80 from all the workshops he attended alone. After another three intense months of online learning, I had 82 points, and Lis had 93. I also kept restoring the more damaged weapons, conjuring documentation whenever my mana allowed, and selling them in antique shops.

At some point, the restoration sped up. I checked, and Restore reached level 10. I figured my channels could handle a second spiral now, and this time I packed the rings tightly, not only in the power orbs but also in the channels leading to them. Second Spiral Completed Quality: 92% Yes! I took a day to rest; the spiral creation process was taxing. The next morning, with a clearer head, I unraveled the first spiral and rebuilt it with tight rings. Second Spiral Completed Quality: 93% Double Yes!

Before that, my regeneration was 3 mana per minute, or 5 per minute with additional mana absorption. After the two spirals, my regeneration jumped to 7 a minute. If I added the absorption aspect to my channels, it went up to 8 and sometimes even 10. It took me a few days to realize the reason for the difference in numbers. After a few hours of regenerating, the mana in the area became thinner. It happened slowly enough that I didn't notice right away.

I grew restless and kept looking for ways to occupy myself when I wasn't on the computer or in a dojo. Wizard books filled an hour or two each day, but that was the limit my poor brain could handle before it felt like mush. After reorganizing my Storage, I donated a lot of the clothes. They didn't sell well in Shimoor anyway; household goods were much more popular. I sorted all the textbooks into boxes by subject, cleared space in my bookcases, and filled the shelves with new fiction and the books I got from Lis.

With the help of my Merchant skills, I sold gold coins at antique stores and hunted down jewelry bargains in pawnshops. At one point, I walked into a pawnshop and locked onto two items. Yep, A Nose for Business rose to level ten. My collection of musical instruments grew fast, and I used Ability Points to buy skills for the flute, violin, piano, saxophone, harmonica, and lute. In the piano section, I found tuning and upkeep skills and bought both.

For some reason, those skills didn't show on my profile, and they merged into the piano skill. The only change was that Piano Playing lost the "Playing" and was now only Piano. I purchased five of each instrument I could now play, along with spare strings and other parts, visited music stores, and bought every sheet of music I could find, from classical and opera to rock and heavy metal.

Remembering the mana dead zones I could learn to create, I bought five of the best laptops I could find and twenty external hard drives, each with 10 terabytes, then started buying music and movies online. After I found a porcelain dishware company going out of business, I bought their entire stock. I visited flea markets and thrift stores to pick up metal cookware and glass dishes. Eventually, I'd had enough. I was too restless to stay in one place for long.

In Shimoor, I'd gotten used to traveling, moving from place to place. After staring at the UK Gates with the spooky red skull in a black circle for a while, I decided to take a chance. I had no intention of actually traveling there; I wasn't suicidal. But I figured that if I cast Invisibility on myself and popped in and out just to get the Gate number, I'd be fine. That evening, I told Lis, "I want to go to the Gates on this island to raise my Gate Traveler class. Want to join me?" He shuddered.

"I have no intention of going near that horrible place. I will not stop you, but please be very, very careful and don't venture from the Gate. You should be in and out in less than a minute."

"Yes, Dad, I promise," I said with a grin, trying to sound reassuring. He laughed and asked Rue, "You're going with John?" I had no idea that Rue could express "Duh" as a feeling so expertly.