Light Arts And Magic With Extra Steps

[Skill book detected, would you like to learn the basics of the Ancestral Arts?]

Yes / No

I hit yes and the book broke apart into blue particles like it was from Sword Art Online. Thankfully, I didn't have the cliché headache from absorbing all the information from the book. Before I go through all that, lets look for the next volume.

(10 minutes later)

That took a lot longer than I thought, but I finally found what I was looking for...

Ancestral Arts: Advanced Light and Dark Arts

[Skill book detected, would you like to learn advanced ancestral arts]

Yes/No

I click yes once again...

[Error, the user is currently unable to learn the contents of this book. Must be Level 40 or higher and have mastered all the basic techniques.]

Hmm, that's unfortunate, I was hoping to instantly master the techniques instead of actually learning them from scratch. I'm sure I'll find a way around it regardless. Man, I'm tired, lets hurry this along so I can sleep. Leaving that aside, lets take a look at all the information I got from the first book.

First up is Dark Arts, except for a few spells here and there, they are mostly useless to me. This is because of how inflexible the magic system is. Unlike Dark Mages, I can use magic freely and even wield pure mana to create skills like [Telekinesis], while they only have a select few spells they can use. They also have incantations that get longer as the spells increase in strength. Except for helping me build a good foundation for my future magic skills, there's nothing else here for me.

The real reason this skill book is so valuable to me are the Light Arts techniques. It uses an energy called Prana that is completely separate from Mana which will be a great help going forward. The best way to explain Prana would be...hmm, I honestly don't know how to explain it. It's like Touki from High School DxD had a baby with Aura from those cringy cultivation novels.

Prana is extremely versatile, although not as much as Mana, it can do a lot more than just strengthen your body. For example, one of the basic techniques is called Taimatsu or Magical Resistance. It allows you to resist magic attacks or outright ignore them if you have enough Prana.

Now comes the cultivation part of Prana. Although the skill book gave me partial access to Prana which allows me to enhance parts of my body' I can't enhance my entire body. This is because very White Knight has what is called the "Seven Prana Gates." These must be unlocked in order to cover and strengthen the entire body with Prana. They are located in the left hand, right hand, left leg, right leg, solar plexus, heart, and brow. Here lays the problem, the book didn't mention anything about how to open these seven gates in detail, so I'll have to improvise.

I sit back down in the comfortable office chair, because sitting on the floor is uncomfortable, and ready myself for this process. First things first, I'm not going into this blind. I need to crated a self-diagnostic spell, that will make this much easier. I imagine my Mana moving throughout my body like the radiation from a X-Ray or MRI machine. It took me a few minutes but I managed to succeed...

[Skill Granted, Diagnosis] LVL 1

[Diagnosis(active) LVL 1

Description: Using this spell, the user can scan to find specific physical and non-physical components in bodies.

MP cost: 20 MP]

"Bah." 'The Gamer System really is convenient.'

I immediately use the skill on myself, focusing on the Chakra gates..... ahem, I mean, Prana gates or whatever they're called. I don't exactly know what I'm looking for here, but I go to my solar plexus region first. To my surprise, I found an actual gate. I thought the "gates" were a metaphor, but I guess not.

I glared at the ancient looking wooden gate. I guess there's only one thing to do here. I move my Prana towards my solar plexus gate and... politely knock on the door. Most protagonists would try to force the door open; I choose to take a more civilized(lazy) approach. Nothing happens so I simply knock on the door again. When the door cracks open, tufts of chestnut brown hair poke through.

A boy that looks to be the same age as me when I died walks through. He had an average face, dark blue eyes, and had not too tan and not too pale skin to match. He walks forward slowly with his head bobbing frontwards and backwards as if he could fall asleep at any moment. He stops just in front of me, not too close, and not too far away. It was a mirror image of...me, well, me in my past life. Why is he...am I here?

"Sup." he says casually.

"Wassup." I say back on reflex.

"Oh, nothing much, just wondering who was knocking on the door...didn't expect us to find each other so soon. I was having a nice nap you know?"

"How did you or rather I end up here?" I ask curiously.

"No clue, all I know is that I woke up and I was here."

"Do you know why?"

"Oh, yeah, there was that thingy I was supposed to do." he straightens his back "Ahem, so you have finally come, I've been waiting for you. Since you knocked on the door like a normal person, I will let you go without a fight, or you can rise to my challenge and take my power for yourself!"

A turquoise aura surrounds my past self in a bubble like fashion, coating his skin with a protective layer of Prana.

"Hmm, nah, hard pass. Sounds like too much work, can we just say I won so we can get back to bed already?"

"I thought you would never ask. That whole spiel was just to check and see if you were still me, and you were staying true to yourself and your desires. Now I can get back to being dead." me of the past said relieved.

"Hey, before you disappear on me, can I ask you some questions?"

"Go ahead, I have a few minutes." he says lazily.

"Do I have to open all the gates like this?" I say tiredly.

"Oh, yes, of course. There won't be a trial though; just knock on the door and it'll open."

"Great, now, how much do you know about this world?"

"Not much, I don't have any knowledge outside of Prana and our memories."

"Please elaborate."

"Well, you'll understand better once you use it, but Prana is connected to your STR, VIT, and willpower."

"I get the other two, but willpower? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, you already know this since I know, but Mana is the power of imagination. Anything you can imagine, you can eventually bring it to life given the right knowledge and power. With Prana, it's a bit different. Do you remember the anime called Gurren Lagann when we were a kid?"

"Vaguely." I say confused.

"Well, in the anime, Spiral Power was the energy in all living beings with spiral or helix shaped DNA used to evolve and become stronger. Prana is basically Spiral Energy for your physical body instead of a giant mech."

"So what? I'm gonna be able to throw galaxies around like in the last episode against the Anti-Spiral? Don't be ridiculous."

"Hahahaha, drill through the heavens mini-me, Hahahaha!" he laughs while disappearing into particles, just like the book.

"....That trolling bastard."

I open the other gates by knocking just like he said. There was no painful or laborious process, they just opened. What was that? It was anti-climactic you say? Well, sorry I'm not a masochist.

I open my eyes to see I was still sitting in the messy office. Noticing that I was still alone, I activate my Prana and coat myself in a turquoise aura. It's still very unstable unlike my counterpart(RIP past me). I guess it's only natural given it's my first time.

'Status'

[For unlocking the Prana stat, you have gained +10 VIT]

[Name: Taida Shimon Age: 5 Months

Job: The Gamer

Level: 1 Next Level: 10.0%

Title: Shark Bait

HP: 1050/1050

MP: 800/800

PR: 525/525 (VIT x 25 + STR x 25)

STR: 2(Locked due to age)

VIT: 19

AGI: 2(locked due to age)

INT: 14

WIS: 7

LUCK: 1

Elemental Affinity: None

Point: 0

Money: $80]

[Inventory] Click

[Skills] Click

[Map] Click

All in a days work. Finally, I can go to slee.... Shit.

"Taida?" Mari walked in.