Exiting the Headmaster's office, I sigh.

After finishing the test as truthfully as I could, Headmaster Varier told me to take the rest of the day off. Something about procedure and him having fun.

I honestly have no idea. Not that I'm complaining.

Now that I have the rest of the afternoon off, I should think about what to do.

The matter of the Stigma can be considered solved, for now. So maybe I should think about what cheat item to get first. I only have at most a year, so starting now would be for the best. The sense of urgency returns as I walk toward my dorm.

On the way, I remember an item that would be most suitable for me.

Since my affinity is Earth, and I'm a mage, I should get that, right?

A defensive item for Earth affinity characters in the game, [Duergar Breastplate].

It's a special armor piece that can only be used by Earth affinity characters, which adds an extra bar of health with a flat number to the user. The bar of health can't be healed by conventional means but restores automatically every round of combat. 

At the start, since it's a defense-oriented armor, a lot of players thought that Tank characters would be the best to use it, but it's too useless. The extra health points are not that great when compared to the already enormous pool of health that the Tanks already have. And since its other stats are too average, it can't compete with other high-tier armors in the late game.

But then, players realize that it is considered light armor for some reason, so even mages can use it.

It became a must-have for any Earth mage and would be considered the best armor for mages if only the restriction weren't there.

It increases the durability of any mage by a large amount, allowing them to measure up to mid-level Knights in the game. Even in the late game, they can at least tank an extra hit or two.

It has no level restriction either, only affinity restriction.

It's perfect if I want to go on adventures in dangerous places to reach my actual targets. It's a noob protector.

To get it though, I will need to find a person who is hiding in the Kingdom right now. I need to trigger the hidden event and then finish their quest.

Well, it's more like helping a person clear their name of crimes they didn't commit.

Putting it like some quest in a game makes it feel too detached. This is not a game, this is reality. My reality. And the people here are real people, each living their own lives, not some pixels on a screen.

I refuse to ever treat my home as a game.

Reaching my dorm, I begin to plan the first step to take on my journey.

===

I decided that writing down what I know about this quest will help me think better.

The memories of my past life never seem to fade for some reason, so I don't need to write them down to memorize them.

Though the further back in my past life, the blurrier the details. It's like in this life, I can't perfectly remember everything about the past few years either, only the more notable things.

It's like the moment that I died in that past life, my mind had taken a snapshot of what I remember at that time, and saved it permanently over in this life.

Back to plotting, though.

The target, Billin the Traitor.

The mission, prove his innocence.

He was convicted of treason by the High Mountain Council, the highest authority within the Stoneheart Commonwealth, the homeland of all dwarves.

Yes, Billin is a dwarf.

More specifically, a dwarven soldier, who, alongside a few others, was tasked to escort a Council member on a simple vacation. But things didn't go as planned, as the leisurely trip was interrupted by assassins from an unknown organization.

These assassins were highly skilled and had quickly incapacitated some of the bodyguards before wounding the councilman gravely, putting him in a deep coma. Then they simply vanished without finishing the job, leaving the remaining soldiers confused and bewildered from such a rapid assault.

Billin fought bravely against them but was knocked unconscious by a heavy hit very early on.

The trip was kept a secret, so only the bodyguards and family members of the councilman knew anything about it. This means, that there was a high chance that one of these people was responsible for leaking information about the trip to the unknown assassins.

After that, a huge commotion was raised across the country.

Since this specific councilman was well-loved by the people, a large investigation was put in place under the pressure of the common folk.

They searched and interrogated everyone who has even the slightest chance to be involved in the situation.

And what they found within Billin's home were suspicious letters, detailing the vacation plans alongside a demand for rewards, addressed to a mysterious recipient. This, coupled with the fact that Billin received very few injuries from the fight, made him the most likely suspect.

But the letters were actually planted there by the true culprit.

The investigation should have been more thorough, but the people's demand for justice was too high, so the Council quickly convicted Billin of treason and warranted an arrest him, hoping to quickly quell the flames.

Unable to stand the injustice but lacking any evidence to support himself, Billin quickly fled the scene, further cementing his guilt in the eyes of the public.

Which leads to now.

Presently, Billin should be constantly on the move, looking to prove his innocence, and has hidden in human territory for at least a year now.

In the game, the quest consists of two parts.

One, the player needs to find a cure for the comatose councilman. He was diagnosed to be under the effect of some poison from the blade that hit him, but it is actually a curse.

A Blessed was among the assassins, and they had used their Stigma's power to put the Council member in a deep and horrible nightmare. The only way to cure him is to take the sap from a special flower, Weeping Nightstalk, and rub it on the closed lid of his eyes.

The players were supposed to learn about this from a witch within a forest, but I already know about it, so visiting her is unnecessary.

And two, the player needs to then find the true culprit, and bring justice to light.

The actual culprit is the councilman's wayward son, who thought that killing his dad will let him inherit the seat left behind by his father. He hired the assassins but tried to short-change them, leading to the assassins only doing half the job. Since his father is still alive and is now placed under heavy surveillance, he couldn't even do anything but twiddle his thumbs and wait for the man to die.

The second part is much harder and requires the protagonist to travel to dwarven lands.

The first part is also hard since Weeping Nightstalk is not a common plant.

It's highly poisonous if not handled properly and its uses are also very niche, making the demand for the plant virtually non-existence.

So, I would need to find one myself. Luckily, I already know where to find it. Or rather, find a person who can get me the plant without asking any questions along the way.

It seems that my first stop will have to be the black market.

===

Looking at the plans that I made, I nod to myself.

It's not very detailed and absolutely not perfect, but this will have to do. Reading it one last time, making sure to remember everything, I then close my eyes.

Reaching my will outwards, I sense the mana in the air around me, its raw potential ready to be tapped.

With every bit of my willpower, I begin to convert as much atmospheric mana as I can into fire-attributed mana.

The process is hard and infuriatingly slow, the mana pushing me back at every step. Like a petulant child, it refuses to comply with any of my commands, its own 'will' fighting my own.

Finally, after what felt like hours, I had gathered enough mana for my purpose.

It is barely a drop of power.

Opening my eyes, I command that very drop to settle onto the paper, and only the paper.

Sluggishly, the tiny drop floats over to its target.

The moment it comes in contact with the paper, a small flame, barely an ember, begins to spread across the plan that I had spent at least an hour writing. Fortunately, the magical flame seems to be perfectly contained, only burning the paper and not anything else.

Looking at the flame, I feel like I had gotten better at controlling different attributed mana.

Casting outside of your affinity is incredibly difficult.

The spell I have just cast was supposed to be Spark, an F rank fire spell.

For mages, unlike knights, affinity is just a harsh restriction, not an unshakable rule. Mages can control mana outside of their affinity, but Knights cannot enhance their bodies with the mana of a different element. That is one of the advantages mages have over knights.

Though in reality, casting magic outside of your affinity is so incredibly hard and inefficient that you might as well forget about it. Only in such a tiny amount, it would make any sense.

Regardless, since it's one of the positives of being a mage, the Academy teaches all first-year mages to cast the basic spell of all elements, of which there are a total of 6.

The Fire spell I had just used, being able to light a small flame, Spark.

The Water spell that creates a small amount of water, enough to fill a cup, Stream.

The Wind spell that blows a gust as strong as a fan, Breeze.

The Earth spell that creates a small pebble, Create Stone.

The Light spell that conjures a tiny firefly, Faerie Light.

The Dark spell that pushes out a puff of smoke, Dark Mist.

This time, I decided to test out my magic again.

Focusing on the palm of my hand, I command the mana around me to tune to Earth. This time, the mana happily obeys, any sense of rebellion gone.

A faint, brownish light begins to shine as small specks of dirt and dust on the floor and in the air, alongside the ashes left behind by the burnt paper, are drawn towards the palm of my hand, quickly combining into a shape of a small rock the size of my fist.

After just a moment, floating slightly above my hand is a gray-brown stone made from hardened particles.

Looking at it, I feel the potential energy remaining within.

With just a flick, this rock can be sent flying at a moderate speed, enough to badly bruise a normal person, or knock them off their feet if aimed at the right spot. The force would be equivalent to the strongest punch from a moderately built, unawakened man.

I move towards the trash can within my room before letting go of the spell.

The stone, now above the bin, crumbles back to its base component and falls directly into it.

I smile. Now I don't have to sweep my room anymore.