Gael huffed, pushing his way through toward the hills where he had last seen the mysterious figure. He was already starting to get tired, a result of mistakenly expending too much energy in a short period of time. 

Damn, she’s fast. I wonder where she went.

By the time he had reached the hill, Gael was a sweaty mess. There seemed to be no trace of the strange woman. Footsteps were hard to leave on dry grass like the one he was currently standing on. Gael had to think of a different way to track her down. 

His eyes darted toward a mass of trees in the distance. While not large enough to be called a forest, they seemed sufficient enough to function as one. 

Could she have gone there? 

It was the only place one could flock to if needed somewhere close by–assuming the girl hadn't just shot through the entirety of the plains with a single spell. That wasn't entirely out of possibility. 

Seeing no other option available, Gael shifted his momentum toward the woods. Wary, he kept his eyes peeled, constantly scanning the area. 

Unfortunately for him, the girl's figure never once reappeared. A few thuds would resurface every now and again, alerting Gael, but they were nothing more than wandering animals–thankfully harmless–and the occasional loner monster. Neither posed a threat as long as Gael was able to sneak past them. 

Another hidden talent of mine, maybe? I can already see the indicator. "Sneak 100!"

"Hey, what's that?"

Gael's attention drifted towards a seemingly ordinary piece of grass. At first glance, it seemed just like the others around it, but a closer investigation indicated it wasn't. 

It's half as tall as the others is colored much, much darker, and feels hollow. Plus… it's super hard. 

The odd piece of grass was about the size of an adult human and looked wide enough to fit most creatures if they squeezed through. 

Gael gathered his strength and struck the grass. The moment he did, he felt it suddenly lower. The "grass" atop it shifted to the sides, giving way for him to see what it really was.

Hey, this isn't grass. This is just a tile with fake leaves on top of it! Who put this here?

It must've been fate for him to discover a secret, Gael thought. 

Maybe I'll be the first player to locate a secret here. 

Thrilled by the prospect of riches and exploration, Gael continued bashing at the tile. Slowly, but surely, it was giving way. Three hits later, the tile flew off, falling towards the abyss below. 

Gael looked downwards. It took a second before the tile he smashed made contact with the ground. Despite not seeming much, it meant there was still quite a sizable distance between ground level and the floor under. 

There's no ladder. But… Gael's eyes caught sight of a small button protruding from the wall. It was barely hidden but still was difficult to find given the lack of lighting. 

The moment he pressed the button, the area below seemed to light up. Gael's ears picked up the sound of torches being lit–the sound having been ingrained into his brain thanks to the countless hours of role-playing games he played. 

Now that the darkness problem was fixed, Gael was able to make a sound estimation of the height of the fall. 

It's not too deep. Should be fine to just jump down. 

And jump down he did. Squeezing into the tile, Gael found it to be a tighter fit than it looked. After a few seconds of wriggling, he was eventually able to worm his way through–falling downwards in the process. 

Ow. Gods, maybe the person who designed this place should've established a more obvious entrance. 

Slapping himself clean of dust, Gael stood up and began scanning the place. It wasn't that large–his room in the pub was actually more spacious. 

Gael counted only four places of interest. To one side of the room, lit the most brightly, there seemed to be a workshop table. Numerous parchments with what looked to be blueprints were neatly lined up. 

Beside the table, a single bookshelf, filled to the brim with books of all kinds, stood tall. 

On the opposite side of the room, there seemed to be a prototype of some kind that was left unfinished. Based strictly on appearance, it seemed to be a robot designed in the appearance of a dog. The head seemed to be the only part of it missing. 

The least interesting, but still noteworthy aspect of the room was the massive amount of spare parts that crowded the floor. They consisted of metals of all kinds, parts Gael assumed were for unfinished creations, and a few scraps. 

He moved first towards the workshop table. 

It's a blueprint for a gun. Looks like… a revolver with a steampunk twist to it.

Gael couldn't make out much of the blueprint as most of it was written in a language he didn't know, but a few seconds of scanning were enough to understand what it was for. 

The revolver in question was extremely similar to the ones cowboys used in the olden days. It held a cylinder that seemed to fit… oddly enough, seven, and not six bullets. 

This thing looks like it packs some firepower. I wonder if I can make it. 

Once Gael was satisfied with what he had found, he switched his attention to the bookshelf. Picking multiple books at random and skimming through them, he easily found one common similarity between them–they were all self-learned books that taught artificing, the art of creating artifacts. 

After that, Gael moved towards the disassembled robot dog. Unlike the revolver, the dog seemed extremely close to being finished. Just the head was needed to complete the design–going off the blueprint sprawled out on the ground beside it. 

I think I just stumbled upon a gem mine. This place seems abandoned, so I might be able to put it to good use. 

The secret workshop seemed to have been undiscovered and unused for quite a long time. Cobwebs plagued the corners of the room, and dust was everywhere. 

With a few minor touches, I might be able to make this fully functioning again. Screw sleep, I'm too invested now to go back.

Adrenaline had overcome Gael. His only thoughts were to begin studying artificing. And he knew exactly where to start–the countless books that had been left untouched. He wasn't going to be sleeping today, and he preferred that to be so. 

***

The next day had come. Gael had returned to Goldenleaf during the earliest reaches of daylight and had started up on opening the shop. 

His job remained the same. He needed to inspect their ingredients and make sure they were fully stocked on everything. Once that was done, he needed to get started on cleaning the place. 

While the pub would inevitably get messy once the busiest hours came by, it was still important for them to maintain a civilized environment. 

Based on Gael's understanding of money in this world, fifty silver coins were more than enough to last a person a week if they lived modestly. A single gold coin was worth a hundred silver coins, so that meant he had earned almost three weeks of money, just from his first day of work. 

He still didn't have a concrete price for Sera's lessons, so he was currently heading to her office to ask. 

Knock, knock, knock. Gael's rhythmic knocks echoed throughout the hallway. 

"Come in." Sera's voice came from inside the room. 

"Ah, Gael. Take a seat, newbie. What did you want to talk about?"

"I just wanted to know how much you were going to charge in exchange for teaching me Inveridium."

"That depends." Sera suddenly smiled. "What branches of magic do you plan on learning?"

Ah, so there are branches of magic. I'm guessing most people just focus on studying a certain tree, and they specialize in it.

"I know most games often have this same style of magic, but I still want to hear Antoria Online's version of it. Could you explain what they are?"

"No problem." She sat straight. "There are three schools of magic that we know of, but we're not sure if they encompass all magic. These three schools each have their own branches that they split into. Most invokers–Inveridium users–often choose to specialize on one or two of these branches."

"It's quite complicated, so listen carefully." Sera continued. "First, we have the Corporeal School. This school deals with the manipulation of our world, and the aspects of it that we can perceive."

"The Corporeal School is divided into five branches. The first is Auguration–it deals with scrying the future and allowing its users to sense the usually imperceptible notions of our world. Second is Intellection–it plays with illusions and control over the mind. In rare cases, its users have been able to bring forces from the dream world into our own."

"Thirdly, we have Alteration. This school primarily works with the mutation of its users' bodies. Druids often use this to shapeshift into various animals. Fourthly, we have Perception. Commonly wielded by sharpshooters, they enhance or alter the senses of their users. It can also be used by illusionists to make people see or feel things. Quite similar to Intellection, yes. Lastly, we have Restoration. Its name says it all–it's the magic used to heal, protect, and regenerate. Clerics and priests practice this often."

It's only the first school of three, and I'm already starting to get dizzy, grr.

"Follow me so far, newbie? We still have two more schools to cover." Sera asked. 

Gael took a moment to respond. "Yeah, I think I understand it. You can continue."