Chapter 2

" Now, why is this place so empty?" Luther put the door back as best he could. His base needs a door.

He walked around the hall to find any information. In the hall, tables and chairs were knocked over and broken. Weapons were found in pieces on the ground. Books were torn and unrecognizable.

He walked over to where the Quest board should be. Instead there was a map hanging on the wall. The village was in the center and there were four red huts surrounding it. The grassland was covered in red dots as well. A panel popped up.

< Epic quest found!

Quest: save the village!

The village is surrounded by goblins. Destroy their camps and kill their chiefs.

Objective: kill four goblin chiefs. 0/4

Kill goblins 0/500

Reward: 1000 XP

??? Chest

??? Book

Consequence for failure: none>

Luther got excited and angry at the same time. "How the hell is a level 1 newbie going to complete an epic quest by himself?!" He took a deep breath and logged out.

It has only been an hour in the real world. He did research on the old Accession Dreams forum.

To be able to use Qi, you need a stable base. He was somewhere between Qi Gathering and Foundation. A foundation is required to build anything on top.

The Twelve kingdoms forum had nothing like that information. That was weird. Mana and Qi are interchangeable and compatible. Doesn't this mean that a martial arts foundation could also work to improve magic?

That warm feeling in his chest returned. Science was actually helping him with magic. Hopefully.

He logged back in and immediately went into a lotus position. He closed his eyes and went back into the void that held his Qi and Mana.

The light and dark blue bubbles were still floating around aimlessly. Still colliding, empowering each other.

He focused on the dark bubbles first. He pulled them all into one spot. He watched in amazement as there was no rejection. It formed one big glowing ball.

The light blue gave even less resistance, if that was even possible. Once they got close enough together, they merged on its own. The two large bubbles floated next to each other, stable and not moving around as much. Were they heavier now?

He woke up to a bunch of notice panels in front of him.

<Basic Magic Understanding has improved>

<Basic Martial Arts Understanding has improved>

<Qi has been stabilized. Qi + 10>

<Mana has been stabilized. Mana + 10>

<New skill created.

Stable Equilibrium (Passive)

Mana base stat and Qi base stat will always be equal.>

<You are the first person to stabilize mana. Mana +10. XP +100>

<You have leveled up.>

<Stable Equilibrium is in effect. Qi +10>

"Woah." He was the first person to come up with this? How? This was in one game, one world. How did no one else figure out that Mana could be stabilized like Qi?

Wait a second. Does this mean that everyone else has Mana just floating around aimlessly inside them as well? Isn't that bad? Is that why casting cooldowns exist?

He looked at his stats again and his eyes widen in shock.

<Player: Luther

Level : 2

HP: 750

Strength: 10

Speed: 8

Mana: 32

Qi: 32

Talents: Basic Magic Understanding; Basic Martial Arts Understanding.

Passive skills: Stable Equilibrium>

30+ in both Qi and Mana. He should be in the level range of 10-15 with a stat like that. Stable Equilibrium is awesome.

These stats are useless if he can't use magic. So Luther goes to raid the back rooms. The books in the back are all on shelves and they are all intact. After looking past history books and sword techniques, he found a low level magic attack.

<Arcane shot. Lv 1

Shoots a bead of Mana at target.

Cost 1 Mana

Would you like to learn this skill?>

He tapped YES and watched the skill book absorbed into his body. Of course, he used it immediately. He felt his chest get warm. He focused on feeling that warmth flow down his arm and out his finger. A bead of pale blue Mana shot out of his finger and made the table next to him burst into splinters.

"Oops." He mumbled as he looked at his status page again.

As expected, only one Mana was used. He wanted to practice outside. He was not going to damage his base any more.

He went onto what could be best described as a main road. All the roads were dirt, but this one was the biggest.

He thought back to what he knew. This wasn't a Spell, it was a Skill. It was a pure energy attack. One that uses Mana. One that should be able to use Qi.

He made a finger gun and focused on that feeling. That warm feeling in his chest when he used Mana. He followed the same path using Qi. A dark blue bead shot out of his finger. A new notice appeared in front of him.

<Skill created!

Qi shot. Lv 1

Shoots a bead of Qi at target.

Costs 1 Qi>

He almost jumped up and down in happiness. All of his theories were right. And now he had two attacks to fight the goblins. But he wasn't done yet.

He stood still and focused on his breathing. He made a finger gun and pointed it forward. He activated Arcane shot and Qi shot at the same time.

The warm feeling turned cold. A strange kind of peace washed over him as a spiral beam shot from his finger tips. What happened?

<Dual beam. Lv 1

Beam of Mana and Qi is shot from your fingertips.

Cost: 2 Mana; 2 Qi>

<Stable Equilibrium has improved>

<Stable Equilibrium (Passive)

1. Mana Base stat and Qi base stat will always be equal.

2. Dual Mana/Qi skills will always be equal.>

So it was that skill? He now had three attack skills, all energy based. He remembers being a magic nerd as a kid.

Isn't this pretty cool? Using Qi and Mana in one attack? What else could be done? Is it just for attack? He should level up higher. Conduct more experiments.

A dangerous smirk slowly appeared on his face. Aren't there over 500 goblins outside the village? Can he go higher than the Quest requirements?