Chapter Thirty-Six: Face on Every page on Every Magazine

"You know, you could have said there were skills like that. Ones that could blow my entire head up!" Drake said, irritated.

Natto simply shrugged. "It is all random, I would not have been able to predict the skill you get from an uncommon stone any more than I can say when you will stop being cringy. Well, actually you will never stop that will you.." she said, sighing.

Drake scoffed but smiled. "This is true. I am just one jumbo sized bottle of fun, you know the ones. Like before they got rid of all the extra large sizes,"

"Yes, unfortunately because of you, I know… Well, are you settled? I assume from the lack of screaming and head cradling you managed to get a manipulation skill?" Natto asked.

"Yep," Drake replied, opening up the skill.

Mana Manipulation Proficiency 1 (5%) [F Rank]

A passive skill that allows the user to actively control their flow of mana. This skill removes the limitations on the mana cost of spells, allowing the caster to control the amount of mana infused into them, increasing or decreasing their strength.

Control is based on proficiency.

That is pretty sweet, so I can turn the fireball spell into kinda like a bomb rather than a blast with enough mana? Drake thought

"Ok what's next," Drake asked quickly.

Natto looked at him nervously for a moment. "Are you sure you do not wish to rest for a moment?" she asked.

"Nope!" Drake answered, holding the monster core up in his palm as he stood up. "Water of the ever flowing current, cleanse my enemies. Water Shot."

A deep blue magic circle formed above the core in Drake's hand, as a small flowing stream of water washed over the core, cleaning both it and Drake's hand.

Normally the spell would have formed a ball and shot it forward, but Drake had just obtained the manipulation skill and only fed enough into the spell to form a stream of small pellets that fell with no power into a seamless water stream flowing constantly from the magic.

[School of Water] Proficiency 2(1%)

The active ability set to control the magic school of water. Your proficiency over water is still early at this juncture, giving you only the basics of spells.

Spell: Water Shot - "Water of the ever flowing current, cleanse my enemies. Water Shot."

Basic single target spell. Deals water damage in a 1 to 0.5 of Intelligence.

Small Mana Cost.

Spell: Torrential Rain - "The wave that washes over the world, wash away the filth. Torrential Rain."

Basic Area of Effect spell. Deals water damage in a 1 to 0.25 of Intelligence.

Moderate Mana Cost.

"Here," Drake said, holding out the now clean goblin core.

Natto plucked the core from Drake's hand and pulled another skill stone from his pile placing it in his hand to replace it. "I will not say thank you. Now go on. Elementalist Tree, use this one. We have a few more to go, and then we need to talk about the skills you received and," she looked to the Goblin's corpse, "We will need to find more of those,"

"Why's that?" Drake asked honestly curious.

"Did you receive a skill stone from that kill?" she asked.

"Yeah. Got an Illusion stone. I think because it was an assassin type monster," Drake answered.

"Unfortunate. The stone we are looking for is a common skill stone called a 'Gambler Skill Stone'," she explained.

"Don't we have enough RNG in my life without getting stones with such an obvious name…?" Drake said wearily, slight trauma coming back into his mind.

"Dolt…you misunderstand. Let me explain further before you have a meltdown. The Gambler Skill stone is not for gambling or more randomness. It is a common stone in the multiverse that is also called the 'Jack of all Trades' stone. It is called this because it does just what the nickname sounds like, gives you rounded skills that you need to fill out your skill set. It is the cheap alternative to higher rarity stones," she paused, grinning up at Drake, "That is not to say you can not get duds, it is a common stone after all. But depending on when we use them, it should fill out your missing skills nicely. And it also gives insight into who might be sponsoring this tutorial."

Drake mulled over her words for a moment, looking too at the fallen Goblin. "Ok, but could there be more of these little bastards hiding around here?" Drake asked first, looking around, "Also who do you think is the sponsor?"

Natto, gripped the monster core in both her hands as she gazed at it, answering Drake, "I can only guess right now because of my limitations," She took a moment to open her mouth and engulf the stone whole, her cheeks puffing outward like a real squirrel. She quickly chewed and swallowed the stone, a dim light encompassing her for a moment. "But we will need a few more F Rank stones first and I will have more proper information. After that, the road to E Rank is going to be very long, just using F Rank cores. As for the monsters? I do believe it is possible if they are smart and lying in wait. But if they are dumb and haven't attacked already, then most likely not. You also have just gained an vision skill, so you tell me. Look around, do you see anything out of the ordinary?"

Drake nodded in understanding, and began to look around, opening up the damn inside his mind slightly to give power to his identifying skill in his eyes. He saw the incredible spectrum of lights but shook his head. He couldn't find any pockets of mana around them right now that stood out like Natto was.

Natto had a large amount of red and blue particles floating around her giving her a moderate glowing outline of mana. And when he raised his hand to his eyes he could see a mixture of red, blue, green, and browns floating in patches. Drake assumed it must be affiliations with mana that he was seeing and it looked like life forms had a larger concentration as they contained mana.

He couldn't be sure of inside the mines but for now they were out of the woods. He reminded himself to check through it after they were finished. Drake didn't like the idea of sleeping with one eye open already because of Natto, but having to have both would be even worse.

What am I being trained by Biscuit Kreuger or something? He joked inwardly.

"Doesn't look like it. Alrighty then, let's finish this up and I'll go get the cores outside, and check the mines after," he said.

Drake gripped the new stone in his hand, surprised that she took so long to give him this stone and began consuming it.

[You wish to consume, Skill Stone: Depth [Rare]

[Confirm?]

[You have learned skill Heretical Mind [F Rank]

Drake went through the motions of the consumption of the stone. The power was now smaller, like a drop in a bucket compared to before. Was this because he had already gone through so many skills? He wondered as his brow rose both at the skill's name and the thought.

"Hey Natto. Am I getting fat?" Drake finally asked.

She looked at him with a blank stare for a moment then, her face contorted in confusion, "What?"

He had wondered for a bit now after his increase to F Rank. With his body drastically changing to fit his 'most optimal' version of himself, and the constant hail of skill stones. The power he felt they gave him, waning each time after the first few.

He thought it was because it was like a tolerance, each hit wouldn't last as long as the first. But that wasn't true. This felt different than a growing tolerance for anything. It felt as if the feeling was lost within something vast inside himself. An expanse that kept growing. The euphoric feeling he had experienced before had not felt the same for each skill stone, depending on the skill the feelings would be more intense or muted.

Then Drake remembered what the introduction construct had said, he was a Mana Vessel. Was his body growing in capacity for the intake of the skills?

"So what is happening to my body," he asked again, more stern this time, "Am I being turned into a fatass monster or something, I kinda feel, bloated?"

Natto blinked and then giggled, "What? Certainly not. You are becoming less human, that is correct. A monster? Absurd. So that is what you are meaning when you ask if you were becoming fat. Yes, the subsumption of skills greatly increases you as a Mana Vessel, as well as increasing levels and stats. But no you are not fat. Maybe a fat head, but your waist is.." she turned before finishing her answer.

Drake hesitantly touched the sides of his head, while she had turned away.

My head isn't fat, it's just large because I'm so smart. Yeah that's right I'm smart, big brained… He consoled himself.

Drake shook himself from his thoughts, not wanting to be drawn into a tangent in his head with a new type of monster had shown up. He had to get his skills in order before he didn't have time to. With that thought he inspected his new skill.

[Heretical Mind] F Rank Proficiency 1 (0%)

A passive skill that allows the user to be not bound by the standard mindset of magic, through which the user is able to break the mechanics of magic.

Form magic to your will at the cost of Mana

The cost of mana is proportionate to the displacement of form.

Chantlessly cast your spells at the cost of damage (Reduction of 50%)

Chant with the standard incantation of your spells at no cost of damage. (Reduction of 0%)

Produce a unique incantation for your spells for the increase of damage at the cost of a large amount of Health, Mana, and Stamina. (Increase of 100%)

Drake began to quiver as he held in a scream of excitement. He felt as if he had watched his favorite esports team finally win the Championship cup after following them for the entire season. The culmination of their efforts finally rewarded.

Natto looked over puzzled as she saw Drake staring off into space, but his face easily spelled out what he was feeling.

"Oh my. What skill did you receive to make you look like that? And please cease it is giving me the heebie jeebies," she said, her arms around herself, her face contorting again.

"It's a skill called Heretical Mind," Drake responded, not even looking up as he tested it out.

Drake tried to summon his fireball through sheer will but wasn't able to.

"That is the best skill you could have gotten! What luck you must have to actually obtain a skill like that?!" Natto cheered.

"Uh huh.." Drake responded automatically, as he tried another way to produce his spell chantlessly. This time he tried to chant the spell inside his mind, focusing on his flow of mana inside his body. But he could still not even produce the magic circle to form the spell.

"-I mean the possibilities for a mage if they obtained this skill! And for you especially-" Natto continued but Drake tuned her voice out as he continued to try different things to produce results.

Maybe I have to go back to basics. Like how I did when I first learned how to use Mana Bolt while running. Drake mused.

"The fire of my heart, take form and sear my enemies. Fireball," Drake changed under his breath. He took every one of his senses and focused them on the forming of the magic. Drake took every excruciating moment in detail as he observed himself.

Every second felt longer than the next, as small droplets formed on his face and body.

Drake could feel his mana flowing inside of his body as it moved to the magic circle forming in the palm of his hand, but he forced it to a near halted drip as he tried to discern every step that was taking place.

After he chanted his mana flared to life with purpose. First the spell took mana from him to form the magic circle as a funnel and focal point for the rest of his mana to congregate.

Drake allowed his Mage Sight to take mana from him so he could better analyze what was happening. This had let him distinguish the flow of the mana from his body to the spell circle. He could now see that the circle also converted the pure mana within him, to fire mana for the spell. Drake could feel the change now, thanks to his Mana Manipulation skill.

He felt the energy within him become warm in his hand as the small fireball began to form, absorbing the raw pure mana to feed its transformation into the spell form on the other side of the magic circle.

He grinned like a schoolboy, who had just heard there was a snow day. A grin that reached past his ears.

Drake quenched the fire in his hand as he could now more accurately control his mana, cutting off its supply.

Drake began again, focusing intensely on his hand trying to remember the process. He felt his pure mana inside him stir as it formed a light blue circle in his hands. It soon turning a light red, then darkening into a deep crimson.

He again began to almost shiver in elation as he saw the small embers of the spell begin to form in his hands. Soon they burst to life as they formed a long blade in his hand.

"-Its incredible! The possibilities! "Natto continued, only now noticing Drake had casted a fire spell, "Oh you are not even listening are you…" she said flatly as she stared at him from the ground a pout forming on her face, her ears and tail drooping.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! I did it! Holy shit! Now my imagination can actually take form!!" Drake squealed like a boy getting his new gaming console at Christmas.

He swung the fiery blade with a flame fueled swish back and forth. An idea forming in his head to test the new skills.

"Hey Natto, ready?" Drake said, smiling again.

She looked hesitant but replied all the same, "Ready for what…?"

Drake laughed, then a wave of seriousness came over him as the smile wiped from his face as it had never been there.

Suddenly the blade in his hand raged as the fire grew in size.

Drake began to yell as the flames rose and began to wisp around him. "You might not believe my words, but you'll believe your eyes won't you?!"

Natto's eyes widened as she realized what was happening, "I-Impossible," she whispered.

Drake roared again, the wisps of fire around him increased in size and heat as he did. Almost engulfing him in flames.

"Ban!- " Drake howled, the flames around him flaring once more, turning into a tornado of fiery power with him at the center, "-kai!!"

"OHHH! If you want to see some action!!! You better be the center of-a-ttraction!!" Natto screamed only for a moment before falling to her knees as she covered her mouth. "Damn it! It's happening again!!" she wailed.

On the last word of Drake, the flames condensed into the sword, forming a large fiery scythe twice his size. Drake held it in both hands as he looked at it with his eyes like stars.

But Drake wasn't finished, he looked forward with determination in his eyes. "We aren't done yet!"

He roared, the fire of the makeshift scythe increasing, as ever more sweat began to paint Drake's brow, "Resonance! Witch-"

Drake never got to finish his sentence as he fell backwards spitting up blood as he hit the ground, the fire and scythe disappearing in an instant.

Natto ran over and looked down at him making sure he was alright. "Drake!? What happened?" she stammered out, her hands over him with hesitation.

"It- It was worth it…." Drake whispered out.

"Wha-?" Natto asked, confused.

"I'm on empty but It was worth it.. I almost completed it!" he said as he coughed again, a trail of blood running down the side of his mouth.

Drake had attempted to use his Heretical Mind skill and Mana Manipulation to perform a combination of one of his favorite moves, but the strain of using the unique chanting of his skill had brought him down to literally 1 on all of his statuses.

But Drake didn't care and laughed, he was content with himself as he closed his eyes.

"Ah! Do not die yet you imbecile!!" Natto screamed as she grabbed him by the collar.