8 Revelation
The Ancient One watched as William stepped into the portal he created. The teenager was an enigma to her. In all the possible futures she had seen, he didn't exist in a single one of them.
That wasn't a bad thing. The Ancient One had gotten used to knowing what would happen and how to best deal with almost all situations. Being ignorant of the future was something the Ancient One hadn't experienced in hundreds of years. It didn't feel as bad the old woman believed it would. She even found herself enjoying it.
William's mutant ability was also something she couldn't understand fully. She did know what it was supposed to do since she spent time researching video games, but it just didn't make sense. It went against everything she had learned over the years.
It also had so much potential. Right now, William was weak, but given enough time, he will surpass her. She could've chosen not to teach him or even killed him because he was an unknown variable, but she wasn't like that.
Teaching William and keeping him close where she could observe and judge his character was what she decided to do. Giving him a chance was the least she could do. If he proves to have an evil nature, she will then act, but only then.
However, as long as William proves to have a good heart, she will guide him and teach him the Mystical Arts. The Ancient one knew that the future held a lot of hardships, but with him in the mix, it might be just a little better for the people of Earth. He might be exactly what the world needs to survive its tribulations.
She didn't think about William any longer and got to work. She had books she needed to copy and others to write. After all, she didn't want all the books on Mystical Arts to suddenly disappear from the library of Kamar-Taj.
Creating the Skill Books was nothing but an experiment on her part. She hadn't expected him to be able to consume them and turn them into actual knowledge without even reading them. One more time, she was amazed at how his ability worked. It really went against everything she had learned over hundreds of years.
---
The next day, I woke up and closed the notifications telling me I slept in a bed.
I was even happier than yesterday. I still couldn't believe that I learned how to create portals in a day. That's so awesome!
And from what I saw, portals weren't limited to the big-sized ones. You can also make small portals to transport items.
I have so many experiments that I want to do with Portal Creation. For example, creating an eye-sized portal, so that I can observe someone in secret. It definitely won't be used for peeping. Nope!
After getting up from bed, I made some breakfast with grandma keeping an eye on me. With her help, my Cooking skill was increasing at a fast rate. Soon enough, I will be a Master Chef. Maybe I can get my own cooking show?
I stored some of the food I made in my Inventory since it can restore some of my stats, and I opened a portal to Kamar-Taj. The MP cost was 250 to create one from New York to there.
I was eager to train with the Ancient One again, but I was left disappointed. Today, there was a different schedule planned for me.
"You want me to read all those language books?"
"Yes." Nodded the Ancient One.
"All of them?"
"All of them," She confirmed.
I wasn't happy about that. Not at all. I was content with just knowing English, but apparently, I would need to learn a lot more languages to understand Magic better. I mean, come on, I can just grab a book and consume its knowledge, why force me to do this?
I relented after the Ancient One promised to give me skill books if learn them all and picked up one of the books.
I was surprised to find out that my memorization had increased by a lot. It didn't take me a long time to learn a different language, and I even got a skill out of it.
[Language(Passive) Lvl. 1/10: The ability to speak, write, and learn different languages.]
It took me two hours to learn Arabic. Two hours! That was mind-boggling. My Language skill leveled up once from that, and I even earned 2 points of Intelligence.
After that, I was led to the training grounds, where all the students of Kamar-Taj trained together. Even the puppy dog eyes I gave the Ancient One didn't change her decision. Come on, am I not special enough for you?
The training mostly involved going through specific motions that let you draw energies more efficiently. I didn't really need to do that since I can use my own energy for my spells.
The other students didn't have a source of energy like me, and they had to use Dimensional Energies. That was something I wasn't allowed to do.
Most of the Dimensional Energies are tied to specific beings that have tremendous powers. Using their energy would only put me on their radar. Something that I didn't want. The Ancient One agreed with me on that one.
I have Gamer's Mind, a skill that is supposed to stop any mind manipulation from affecting me. However, those beings were so powerful, I didn't want to test out that theory.
The training was still useful for me since my Eldritch Magic and Portal Creaton did end up increasing. The title, Apprentice Sorcerer, was just perfect.
Yesterday, I got my Energy Blast to increase to 7 just from spamming it a few times. I didn't even focus that much on it since making energy constructs was a lot more fun.
After we finished with the motions, we moved on to spars. I might not get to spar with the Ancient One, but I was up against a Master nonetheless.
[<Master of the Mystic Arts> Karl Mordo Lvl. ??]
Mordo was a black-skinned man of average height. He, like the other people at Kamar-Taj, wore priest-like clothing. However, unlike most, he had something that made me salivate.
Using on Observe on him, didn't give any special information other that he had come to Kamar-Taj seeking power for revenge.
But using it on two of his items was a whole different story.
[Vaulting Boots of Valtorr(Epic): The boots increase the wearer's leaping ability, increase movement speed, and nullify the adverse effects of impacts from high landings. They also allow the wearer to briefly hop in the air.]
[Staff of the Living Tribunal(Legendary): The staff has been imbued with a small fraction of the powers of the Living Tribunal.]
Holy crap! I want one of those as well. The staff was a Legendary item! My Observe didn't even give me all the information about it. Just the basic that I could've figured out from its name.
"So, you are the apprentice I've heard about," Mordo addressed me before our spar.
"You've heard about me? Sadly, I haven't heard anything about you."
Mordo let out a deep laugh. "Oh, I'm gonna enjoy beating that arrogance out of you."
And he rushed at me.
The Ancient One had an elegant fighting style. She moved effortlessly and preferred to conjure fans as her weapons.
Mordo, on the other hand, didn't move with the same elegance. He was a lot more straight forward, but he was still way out of my league and able to beat me with ease.
I conjured whips to try and entangle him, but Mordo broke free out of them with pure strength.
I conjured spears and threw them at him, but he dodged them or swatted them away with his staff.
I tried surprising him by Energy Blast, but he was able to conjure a shield and block the spell.
I conjured a sword and a shield to fight him up close, but he shattered both energy constructs before hitting me once with his staff and sending me flying away.
Mordo might not be on the level of the Ancient One, but he packed a punch. He was also a good sparring partner. My skills did improve thanks to him. My fighting senses also got a lot better from fighting a Master of the Mystic Arts.
We fought a total of five times since my bullshit ability allowed me to recover very quickly. Each time he won overwhelmingly, but I got better every time I lost.
The best part about it was that Lying was no longer my highest skill.
All in all, Saturday was a fruitful day, and I returned home satisfied with my progress.
I quickly made my way to the nearest store and purchased 6 Red Bulls with the money I had on me. I drank three of them before using Create ID.
Killing the zombies was such an easy thing to do now. All I needed to do was aim an Energy Blast to their heads, and they fell down like flies.
The skill even maxed out!
[Energy Blast(Active) Lvl. 10/10: A skill that attacks by emitting mana, attack power depends on Intelligence. MP cost: 10. Range: 20m.]
I was a bit sad that it didn't evolve into another skill, but rather than complain, I decided to try and create another one.
Energy Blast sends out a blast of energy, but I wanted something more compact. I urged the mana to take shape into the form of a bullet, but no matter how much I tried, I always got the same message.
[Intelligence to create the skill not met.]
I wasn't happy with that. Not at all.
So, I started putting points into Intelligence. When the stat reached 51, something interesting happened.
[Skill, Mana Affinity, has been created as Intelligence increased over 50.]
[Mana Affinity(Passive) Lvl. Max: A skill that makes the user more sensitive to Mana and handles Mana better. MP Regen increased by 5%. MP increased by 5%. Magic Attack and Defence increased by 5%. Magic related abilities increase 30% faster.]
This is a game changer! The skill Mana Affinity was amazing as it was perfect for me. That, combined with my title, will allow me to learn Magical skills so much faster.
However, I learned another important thing. If I get my stats over 50, I will be awarded skills.
This gave me a reason to raise my other stats as well. However, I will still stick with my plan. I will increase Wisdom with stat points but keep trying to raise my physical stats through training.
With the rest of my stat points allocated to Wisdom, it was now at 44. After I get 2 more levels, I will be able to get the Wisdom skill as well.
With that done, I decided to finish what I wanted to do. So, I shaped my Mana into a bullet and fired it off.
[Through a specific action, the skill, Mana Bullet, has been created.]
[Mana Bullet(Active) Lvl. 1/50: A long-range Magic attack that forms Mana into a bullet. Damage depends on Intelligence. MP cost: 10. Range: 50m]
It was cool, but I felt it was missing something. Then I remembered all the slow-motion scenes in movies. The bullet was always spinning.
With that in mind, I got to work, and soon enough, I got what I wanted.
[Through a specific action, Mana Bullet has evolved into Spinning Mana Bullet.]
[Spinning Mana Bullet(Active) Lvl. 1/100: A long-range Magic attack with increased piercing power by adding a spinning quality to Mana Bullet. Damage depends on Intelligence. MP cost: 20. Range: 100m]
Oh, hell, yeah! Who needs a gun when you can shoot bullets out of your finger.
Now, I just need to raise Create ID since zombies were starting to give me too little XP. I needed something stronger to fight.
[Name: William Williamson
Mutant Power: The Gamer
Level: 12 Next Level: 5%
Title: Apprentice Sorcerer]
[HP: 360
MP: 895]
[Strength: 20 + 6
Vitality: 20 + 6
Dexterity: 20 + 6
Intelligence: 51 + 14.28
Wisdom: 44 + 12.32
Luck: 10]
[Stat Points: 0
Cash: 10.40$]
[Skills: Lying(Passive) Lvl. 13/50
Observe(Active) Lvl. 4/10
Physical Endurance(Passive) Lvl. 17/100
Martial Arts(Passive) Lvl. 15/100
Cooking(Passive) Lvl. 8/100
Meditation(Passive/Active) Lvl. 14/100
Create ID(Active) Lvl. 8/100
Exit ID(Active) Lvl. 8/100
Energy Blast(Active) Maxed
Crafting(Active) Lvl. 1/100
Eldritch Magic(Active) Lvl. 14/100
Portal Creation(Active) Lvl. 2/10
Language(Passive) Lvl. 2/10
Mana Affinity(Passive)
Spinning Mana Bullet(Active) Lvl. 1/100
Gamer's Body(Passive)
Gamer's Mind(Passive)]
