• 3^rd Person POV

While waiting for the time to pass, Evan goes to west of Novitas where the familiar spot between the forest of darkness and the slime field. In there, he summons Umbra, the dog enjoys running around in circles and getting dirt all over his fur as Evan is practicing his mana control & the effects of his exclusive title.

“It’s strange, I didn’t get any +1 INT if I read random books from Novitas’ Library. Provided, after I got the original +1 INT by opening a book. But if the book contain details about mana, magic, and spells. I get it after I understood its content. Is that what the title meant by ‘Understand’ a spell?” Evan ruminates while squishing Umbra’s face as the dog panting with dirt all over its fur having fun playing on the field.

*WOOF *WOOF, Umbra barked while Evan given him a large bone treat. “Quoting from that book, Spells are the processes of where mana is being woven and at the end of that, are product which is called magic. If I connected it to my title <Mana Sensitive>… well according to my hunch and personal interpretation. What I need to understand to get that +1 INT, is learning the concept behind those spells. The difference between weaving mana like this… or like that…” As Evan ruminates his hand began to move corresponding with his thoughts.

The threads & wisps of mana turn solid creating a barrier then changed again to its original form. “I see… should I say its similar to cooking? Its pretty vague but that helps me. Cooking have different processes such as cutting the ingredients, boiling them, smoking, and many more. Those are what gives me +1 INT. Then why is my firebolt barrage doesn’t get +1 INT then?” Evan still ponders as his gaze landed on Umbra.

The dog got distracted by some kind of rustling of bushes and the sounds of fighting at the forest of darkness. Evan took that chance to take that bone away and put it behind Umbra. After the dog back to focusing where his bone was. He tilted his head to the side confused on where the bone has gone, his mouth chomped air.

“Heheheh…” Evan chuckles seeing Umbra a bit confused before standing up and turns around seeing the bone is right behind him all along. The dog look at Evan as if it tries to roll his eyes as Evan stroke his head gently.

“Maybe because, I just add seasoning! Like in cooking. I have already learned the process of casting fire bolt since its similar to unleashing magic arrow. Hmm… maybe I will get a reward for being creative when I breakthrough Mana Control LV10? Who knows… but that is my hunch for now.” Evan look up to see the sun moves. Since his mind is still active from thinking about his own skills, it begin to wander about the difference of time between IRL and In-game time. 1-hour IRL equal to 1 day in-game time.

“haha… I didn’t feel the difference when I enter the game. Maybe it’s because either I was having fun so much that I forgot, or the time perspective is different when entering the game. Same as when you feel 1 minute is like an hour when you wait for something. I think they used that concept here in the game.” Evan look above while hearing Umbra continues to chew the bone as he petted Umbra’s back with the dog really enjoying it.

“Its nice to be lazy sometimes, I’m glad I have leisure time with Umbra. Come to think of it, I have heard they have some court problems… meh… I didn’t think much about it as long as I get my money.” Evan look at the time while pursing his lips. “Yup… waiting for my item now feels like IRL days. Sigh… I’m going to play around with Umbra” Evan smirks as he look at Umbra.

Weaving the mana, Evan casted a spell on Umbra as he now have a pink image of a bone treat right on his back. The dog himself doesn’t notice but Evan can see it clearly as he chuckles then dispersing it.

He plays around the mana on the ground as well as he created 3 little golems, probably around 30 centimetres in height. With big rounded body akin to a helper robot Evan watched in movies. It looks cute as Evan mentally order them to bring Umbra treats.

The dog just laze around like king as the golems bringing him those treats from Evan. After a while of playing with the golems. Evan disperses it, returning them to the soil as he opened his palm and a condensed red flare begun to appear on top of his palm.

Evan knew what will happen if he unleashed it, an explosion of intense heat since this is the spell fire ball. Evan disperse it, while looking at the time before sighing heavily. “It feels so long” Evan thought.

He picked up some branches that fell from the ground as he decided to enchant them using his new knowledge from the book. “The book on enchantments did say, I needed to infuse the particular item with mana first before anything else as it serves as a foundation. The better the item intake mana the higher potential it can be built on top. These branches aren’t good at taking in mana so I can only infuse a small bit of it. That’s why my imagination sees it as ‘leaky’ if I am skilled enough, I would probably know when to stop filling it rather than just fixed the leakiness” Evan thought

He held the bundle of branches as he began focusing the flow of mana, trying to plunge them into each respective branch. “Hmm… it feels easier than before. Its probably due to my mana control skill have upgraded to LV5” Based on what the book of enchantments told Evan, those leaks can be repaired as it is explained.

He overfilled the container of the item resulting those leaks and when he fixed the leaks. It meant that he let out the excess mana. Although… the book provided cleaner method of fixing rather than Evan crude process.

Probably spending 4 hours or more in real time, Evan completely focused on infusing mana into the bundle of branches. There are probably 5 of them, until he opened his eyes.

“Finally… fiuf… how long have I been in that state?” Evan look to the side opening the time panel seeing that 4 hours have passed in-real life. Meaning 4 days have gone by so his item should already been finished.

He turn his head aside to look at the bundle of branches in more detail. He can see using his mana control, that the mana inside the branches aren’t a lot but they did settle inside. Similar to container, the better the item can intake mana the bigger container it is. “Hah… thanks to that book, I guess I’m going to break some rules again” Evan glances Umbra who’s laid on the ground on his belly with his paws spread.

“heh…” Umbra’s left his tongue out while snoozing away as he dismissed the dog before moving to Novitas. Coming out from the tranquil spot after storing all the twigs to his inventory. He felt… something different. “Hmm…” Evan thought, the area is incredibly quiet, and it is day-time in ‘Eidolon’

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A figure wearing green robe moving from the Slime Field towards the gate of Novitas. Probably requiring at least 15 minutes of walking until reaching his intended destination.

What he didn’t see, is that there is a single shadow hiding behind the trees. A man wearing tattered black cloak and a black mask covering his mouth and nose. “I fucking found you at last” The assassin thought as his eyes glances to that figure.

He got the information regarding Evan through the NPCs who sees a green robed man with his dog. Although the mask obscure his mouth but looking at his eyes. One can see how jubilantly, he find his target.

A glint of metal came from his cloak as he dashes forward at an incredible speed even merging with the wind. To that figure wearing green robe, upon stabbing it the assassin smiles even wider thinking that he PKed him.

But… he doesn’t feel what his daggers supposed to hit. That recoil from stabbing isn’t there rather it just passes through. Upon realizing it, he look up and sees the figure disperses to the wind. “Bastard! An Illusion” The assassin look back and sees nothing but the empty quiet of Slime Field.

Meanwhile, Evan have recalled himself to Novitas rather than walking as the assassin lies there frustrated to himself. Being one upped by the green robe mage, Evan moved to the general store asking for another set of robe that have different colours. Taking another 1 GC from his purse, he changed his clothing to blue robe instead.

“Alright… that should do it! Sigh… I read that one of the archmagi used illusion magics to fool his enemy. That was his prank, to summon an image of himself walking through an ambush site while he spies from other side. Quite smart! Sorry, I’ll copy your technique…” Evan hopes that he didn’t get plagiarized from that as he continues to walk to get his custom ordered chest.

“… how did he know though? I’m wearing a green robe. Is it because of Umbra?! That’s true… Not many newbies have a pet on their own so indeed! Umbra catches NPC or Players attention especially in Novitas” Evan pursed his lips annoyed by that assassin.

He moved to the alleyway as he summoned Umbra, stroking his head and squishing his cheeks. Evan still ponders on how to escape the assassin’s attention. “Sigh… he’s a persistent person” as Evan stroke the back of Umbra. The dog himself merge with air becoming invisible as Evan weaved the mana to look like that.

Standing up, he commanded Umbra to follow him as Evan can feel the dog’s fluffy fur on his legs while walking to the wood worker shop. Upon entering the place, he’s greeted with the smell of lacquer as the owner noticed him. Evan pulled his hood down as the wood worker recognizes the man.

“Ah! There you are, I was wondering where you have been. The boys finished your things. Here you go! Check it first…” The owner pointed to the bench in front of the shop as Evan can see a vintage looking chest.

Opening it, he can see the inside of the chest as the owner took off his gloves and protective eyeglasses approaching that chest. “Ah right… I forgot, I’ll show you the compartments” The owner opened the compartments on the left and right of that chest. Evan eyes gleamed seeing it happening in front of his eyes.

“That one big chest have 8 hidden compartments. 4 on its left and 4 on its right. Upon being opened they look similar to the ‘Make Up Kits’ or ‘Mechanic Tool Box’” Evan smiles and write on his notepad many thankful words which the owner smiles.

He put it in the inventory with Umbra snuggling to his leg albeit invisible to the naked eye. “He’s my moral support dog!” Evan thought while stroking the air in the eyes of the owner.

After that, he left the wood worker shop and to the nearest alleyway with the chest, bundle of branches, and Umbra. Finding a quiet space to rest & respite as the invisibility is dispelled revealing the dog. “No one’s here as far as I know from my ‘radar’ spell” Evan confirmed it as he extended the range.

Bringing out the bundle of branches and the chest. He begins to start shaping the infused mana inside the branches. Taking 2 to 3 hours in-real time to enchant the branches.

There are three good berry branches and two fire bolt branches. As he is satisfied with the creation of these branches. He pulled it up and put it on ‘Player’s Marker’ using his M&M shop nickname. After that, he moved on to the chest with hidden compartments.

“I think I’m going to bite more than I can chew.” Evan thought as he begin to try infusing mana to the chest. “Whoaa… the flow of mana… they just seeps right in. How long should I pour it?” He pushes the wisps of mana to the chest until his own concentration begin to tire.

“Fwah… it’s like a big endless pot.” Evan sigh and huffed leaning his body to the ground. Looking at his time panel, he already spend around 5 hours and it isn’t complete yet. He can sense that the item require a lot more than what he just did.

With a sigh, Evan squished Umbra’s cheeks before giving him many treats. A reward for guarding him. “I guess that’s it for today” Evan stretches his body dismissing Umbra and logged out from ‘Eidolon’

[Authors Note: I just watch a lot of dogs & cats getting their cheek squished so Umbra going to feel it too. Nyehehe]