Alternis went back into his dorm room and set his pack filled with papers and books onto his desk. He stretched his body and looked around his room. His room is as big as a small closet with nothing but a bed and a desk to accompany it. The wooden floor creaked with his every step and the flimsy walls did little to damp the noise from his neighbors' boisterous laughter and game activities. Time and time again, he would go knock on his neighbors' doors to ask them to quiet down. They either didn't hear his knocking and didn't answer or they answered and said that they'll quiet down, only to resume their racket a few minutes later. He has long since given up on doing anything about it, especially since the dorm managers wouldn't care enough to establish order and peace just for some commoners.

He laid down onto his barely soft bed and contemplated on the last few statements uttered within the classroom today. The opportunity to finally use the Moltimania to gain his own aspects and ascend to Tier One is around the corner. He did everything he could to prepare for this event; he'll create the best foundation he can ever build and become the best magic swordsman he can ever be.

As time went by, it became obvious that he won't be getting any early naps soon. Therefore, he raised his body and sat down at his desk. He grabbed the worn-out book called 'The Basics of Moltimania' out from his bag and reviewed over the contents once more.

The Moltimania was one of the few magic tools that were left behind by the Magic Civilization. It was unanimously agreed by the scholars and historians that it was one of the main reasons why the Magic Civilization was powerful enough to take over the majority of the continent. The purpose of the Moltimania is to create a malleable shell around the user's soul and help him or her establish aspects; this shell is called the Mindscape. With these aspects, the user will be able to learn and thrive in the aspects' related fields much sooner than a person who didn't use the Moltimania; what takes a normal person to learn and accomplish in eight years, a successful Moltimania user can do in a couple of months at most.

In order to ascend to from Tier Zero to Tier One, the user must establish at least three aspects and request the Moltimania's system to solidify their Mindscape. The more aspects the user establishes in their own Mindscape, the easier it will be for the user to learn their relevant crafts and create more aspects in future sessions with the Moltimania. It's not an exaggeration to say that the foundation a person completes in their Tier 0 Moltimania session will dictate the direction their future takes them and the highest Tier they can establish.

For the purpose of procuring their desired aspects, or 'Unique Skills' as it's labeled within Moltimania, one must complete their corresponding quests within a virtually-created world. The harder one works at these quests, the faster they'll obtain these aspects; with only three months being provided, spending less time on these quests is a blessing. What if you don't perform well in these quests? According to the book and his 'lovely' teacher,  nobody should even bother since the extra effort would only be wasted; everybody who completed the same quest would only get the aspect of the same quality, regardless of your endeavors.

As Mr. Pedgao put it, "It's plain stupidity to work hard and please those quest-giving dunces who're blind to my sublime demeanor! If you want to please them and be their pathetic servants, go right ahead! Only REAL MEN would take their mantles and set out for awe-inspiring goals that are actually worthy of my magnificent personage!"

'...These words have come from a man who barely managed to ascend to Tier Two. The official textbook supports his words... But whenever I look at his abysmal progress and his dim prospects for higher tiers, I keep thinking that I should at least give it my all on my first quest.'

These doubts were shared by his numerous classmates, but almost nobody was willing to waste more time than necessary on a single quest when they could already be working on their second quest. Since the official textbook given by the school told them so, who're they to doubt its words?

'...To make extra time for this experiment, I've done my best to stay up late at night to increase my [Sleep Resistance] and increase my proficiency with [Meditation]. Therefore, I've increased the amount of time I'm active in a day and decreased the duration of my daily rests respectively.'

As he thought back to the extra time he used to read more books, exercise, and practice [Multitasking], he considered his preparations to be worthwhile and complete.

'All that's left is to keep going until the day before the Moltimania Test.'

After closing the textbook, he proceeded to take out another book from his bag and read, do squats, and circulate his mana at the same time. Working on this seemingly odd task for close to a month has made Alternis proficient in [Multitasking], [Reading], [Strength UP], [Mana Sense], [Mana Manipulation], [Stamina UP] and [Intelligence UP] skills. Although he wished he could've monitored and checked his progress, he could easily do that anytime after entering the Moltimania.

He continued to train his skills until midnight when he began to lose focus. After having determined that he made good progress in his skills, including his [Sleep Resistance], he proceeded with [Meditation]. He closed his eyes, sat on the floor, and straightened his back. He shifted all of his attention to inside his being and regulated his breathing. His current proficiency allowed him to spare some of his focus towards the events happening within himself; the mana in the air were breathed into his being and circulated throughout his body, training his [Mana Sense] and [Mana Manipulation] in the process. Every mana cycle that occurred within his body invigorated both his mind and body bit by bit.

After some time passed, he fully recovered and started practicing his basic magic spells. He used his [Mana Sense] to track his circulating mana. With [Mana Manipulation], he slowly changed the flow and formed some pathways down to his outstretched right arm.

'Please let this work. I managed to comprehend and execute the beginner spell of Earth recently. If I just change the element pattern within the mana pathways that executes the [Orb of Earth], I should be able to execute the [Orb of Fire] without having to pay for the corresponding spell book.'

When the mana followed through the pathways, which Alternis arranged in a pattern, a small orb of flames formed in the palm of his hand. He opened his eyes wide in shock and became elated shortly afterwards. Due to the loss of focus, the small [Orb of Fire] faded away, but that didn't matter. He succeeded in executing a beginner spell of another element. He shouted in elation and jumped repeatedly in joy. With this accomplishment, he would go out and share this knowledge with his other mage-like peers. Perhaps he'll finally find some genuine, caring friends-

*BANG!*

"Shut up over there! We're trying to sleep here!"

"Do you know what time it is right now!?"

'...Nevermind. I'll just continue with the other elements.'

After several attempts, he effectively executed beginner spells of the last two main elements: [Orb of Water] and [Orb of Wind]. By the time he was done with this fruitful task, daylight began to appear on the horizon. After a few last stretches, he went to bed for a well-deserved nap.