Stars twinkled in the sky, forming a rough X shape, shining as if competing against one another in the darkness of the void. Five large divine satellites occupied the rest of the sky, each with a distinct colour. Occasionally, a cold breeze ruffled Peter’s soft brown hair with a teasing attitude. It was late at night. His friends had already retired to their houses after dinner, all feeling a heavy dose of sleepiness as their bodies focused on digestion. One by one, they said their goodbyes and went to bed with half-closed eyes.
Peter smiled as he gazed at the centre of the square. The bonfire that had burned brightly hours ago had now shrunk, its flames flickering gently. Villagers danced in a circle around it, their faces glowing with joy and sweat.
Among them were Mariah and Joseph, lost in their world, sharing a quiet moment. Hand in hand, both danced to the rhythm of the music, eyes only reserved for each other. Taking a deep breath, Peter turned his focus away and let them be. They deserved this.
Sleep tugged at his eyelids, but he could wait a little longer. It was the least he could do for them. All laughing and enjoying himself the whole evening, he was feeling a bit melancholic.
What did the future hold for him? He was barely more than five years old, yet he had already gathered a lifetime of cherished memories. Would he be able to give it all up when the time came for it?
Raising a hand to the sky, he spread his fingers wide, as if trying to grasp the stars.
I want to see more of this world. Meet people from distant lands. Taste foods I’ve never imagined. Witness the wonders hidden across this realm.
The lack of light pollution made the night sky dazzling. Though unfamiliar, it was breathtaking. Especially knowing they aren’t just celestial objects. Once, there had been only two.
His gaze shifted to the open IDE tab on his status screen.



IDE...


God-Slayer: Rewarded to those who have slain a god. This title...



 
He had no idea what to do with this information. No village boy had the right to know this particular piece of information, yet he had it. Available to him for years.
Shaking his head, Peter stepped aside, letting the window fade away. His target sat quietly a few meters away, lost in thought. As he approached, she looked up.
“I heard you’re getting married,” he said, taking a seat beside her before following her gaze.
“I am,” Rose mumbled back, patting his head with a gentle touch.
“Isn’t it a bit soon? You must be, what, 21? 22?” Peter said, soundly outraged and unwilling.
She just nodded, already come to terms with the events. Whatever convincing Peter was about to do evaporated in thin air after looking at her face.
Feeling tongue-tied, he decided to change the topic: “How’s the guy?” If she had made up her mind, there wasn’t anything that he could do. Should he even be doing something?
“Toby’s nice,” she elaborated, taking a slow sip from her mug. “Though it’s hard to tell. I’ve only met him twice.”
“Hmm… Didn’t you use to like that guy who worked at the tavern? What happened to him?” Peter enquired, wondering aloud. He hadn’t seen the lad in ages.
Rose replied with a darkened look in her eyes and a neutral tone, “He ran off one day without a word. Chasing some adventurer girl, or so people say.”
Wow. Peter thought, unsure of what to say. “What a bastard,” he finally muttered, feeling sad for the girl. She didn’t reply. They just sat there in silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable, though.
“I’ll miss you.” He didn’t know why he said that. Nor did he know why he was crying as he did. He was not a child. He could deal with partings, then why? Why is there a lump in his heart?
She just smiled and pulled him into a quiet hug. She looked happy to hear it. As they hugged close, silent tears fell from Rose’s eyes, sliding down to touch her smile. They shared a moment. After a few minutes, his tears dried.“You must often visit,” Peter insisted, once they separated from each other. Rose nodded, the gentle smile on her lips never leaving throughout the whole conversation. Soon, Mariah arrived to take him home, and Rose and Peter parted ways.
His mother didn’t ask why his eyes were red the entire way home. Once they arrived, she helped him change in silence. She led him to his room, carefully tucked him in, and kissed his forehead. “Good night,” she whispered, giving him space to sort out his thoughts.
No matter how strong and mature Peter might act, Mariah knew that parting ways was never an easy process. When she left her home city to live with Joseph as his wife, she had to experience the process with everyone that she knew from childhood to adulthood.
That night, for the first time, he didn’t work on his Skill. Instead, he just slept. Rose was, in a way, his first friend.
…
The next day, things fell back into normalcy.
Peter swayed on unsteady legs, struggling to find his centre of balance. Sweat poured down his forehead, dripping into his eyes.
“Get your breathing under control,” Joseph commanded, stopping beside him.
Easy for you to say, Peter grimaced. Still, he did his best to follow the advice.
Thump. Thump.
Giving up on standing, he sank to the ground, taking deep, measured breaths. Bile rose from his stomach, pushing for a way out, but Peter insisted on not painting the ground.
Closing his eyes, he focused inward, trying once more to circulate his mana. Slowly, his body loosened, his heartbeat steadied, and a shroud of calm settled over him. He didn’t fight it. His mana stirred. Barely a tickle, but it did.
For the first time, he lost track of his surroundings. His mind was quiet, free of distractions, entirely focused on his body. Slowly, his vision sank deeper into his body. And then, he felt it. A tiny point, in the centre of his being. Insignificant under three dimensions, but an unparalleled vastness from within.
Approaching it with his freely flowing mind, Peter understood what it was. The connection to his soul with his mortal shell. The moment he metaphysically touched it, an unimaginative weight pressed down on him. It was mana. His mana.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Flowing from his soul to his mortal shell. Calming down, he pushed his meditative vision deeper in the path, swimming in mana. For an instant, nothing happened before he crossed some kind of hurdle and passed to the other side.
On the other side was his mighty soul. It burned like a furnace. Too vast, too powerful for someone as small as him. Like a high end engine shoved into a junker car, it kept producing mana, feeding it into his body, but with nowhere to go, the excess bled into the atmosphere.
Then, from the depths of his soul…
Ping.
Something stirred, breaking his meditative concentration.



Status...


You have unlocked a Skill: Mana Manipulation


Do you wish to accept it? Yes / No



 
Peter opened his mortal eyes, expecting to see Joseph, but his father was nowhere in sight. Instead, Mariah sat beside him, gazing at the blue sky. His movement caught her attention, and she turned to look at him with an analytical gaze.
“Where’s Dad?” he asked, getting up from the ground.
Finding nothing wrong with him, she smiled and said, “He left two hours ago. You’ve been sitting like this for the past three hours, sweetheart.” Causing him to pause and his eyes to widen.
Grumble.
Right on cue, his stomach made its hunger known.
Mariah giggled, standing up and offering him a hand. “Come, let me get you something to eat.”
“I unlocked Mana Manipulation,” He told her while taking her hand.
She nodded, unsurprised. “Did you check your status yet?”
At her prompt, he quickly pulled it up. “Spirit increased by one point.” He noted, delightfully.
She hummed in thought, tapping a finger against her left cheek. “It’s an essential skill for any form of casting besides spell skills. No, let me correct myself.”
“It’s essential for a lot of things. Your friend Charles will likely need to unlock it too,” she added, opening the door, ushering him inside.
“Some Classes require it much sooner than others. But don’t choose it yet. Eat first. We’ll discuss it in the afternoon.” She insisted, pushing him to the dining room from behind after closing the door.
Peter nodded, taking a seat at the dining table.
…
“Instead of simply telling you whether you should take this Skill or not, let me help you understand how to choose Skills.” Mariah began her teaching session in the afternoon.
Seated in the study room on the first floor, Peter listened attentively. He had already eaten breakfast and taken a bath before their discussion began.
Give a man a fish, and he won’t go hungry for a day. Teach him to fish, and he’ll never go hungry again, he mused, nodding to show his understanding.
“Skills like Mana Manipulation act as guiding tools; they help us improve in a subject while also making things easier,” Mariah explained, drawing a figure on the paper, holding a sword.
She gestured toward the window before continuing, “Your father doesn’t have Mana Manipulation, yet that doesn’t mean he can’t manipulate mana.”
“The Skill would have just made him progress faster and be more efficient at it,” she added, as the figure swung the sword, after she added a coating over it.
Peter nodded again. He already knew this from studying Skills using his IDE, but since she wasn’t aware of that, he let her continue. “So, you’re saying every Skill is like an assistant?” he asked, looking at her sketches.
Mariah nodded. “Yes, more or less. A really good assistant. So much so that having a Skill or not can drastically change the outcome of an action.”
Leaning back slightly, she continued, “Now, moving on, think of Classes as paths leading to a destination.”
“The destination being higher advancements?” Peter guessed, remembering the moon in the sky that he had seen just yesterday.
“Exactly. But each path differs in some way. That’s why certain Classes have varying compatibilities with different Skills depending on how far along they are in their advancement.”
She glanced outside before providing an example. “Take your Uncle John, for instance. He has a common Class: Farmer. That Class helps him grow crops, protect them from disease, and perform various other tasks.”
Turning back to Peter, she elaborated, “Right now, he can only grow non-mana crops, even if he had Mana Manipulation. His stats are more aligned toward physical attributes.”
“In other words, even if he had the Skill, it would be useless without enough Spirit points. Do you understand?” She asked, carefully studying his face.
“I get your point, but Dad has a substantial mana pool, more than 500 points. Why didn’t he choose to take the Skill?” Peter curiously asked, frowning in thought.
“Because right now, he doesn’t have complementary Skills,” Mariah replied, smiling gently with a shrug of her shoulders. “Mana in its raw form isn’t particularly harmful.” Spreading her arms wide, she said, “It’s all around us, after all.”
Folding her hands in front of her, she continued, “The real challenge is shaping that mana into a specific element, and that requires extensive study of magic. Other Mage-related Skills, like Intent Casting, are essential for that.”
She glanced at the bookshelf before continuing. “Your father does manipulate mana and use it, but his outlet is his sword, or his own body. His Swordsmanship Skill is enough for that.”
Meeting Peter’s gaze, she added, “If he ever advances to a higher stage, then yes, he might need Mana Manipulation. But for his current Class? It’s not a necessity.”
Then, her expression shifted, and she smiled slightly. “Which brings us back to my first question. Have you decided what you want to be?” She waited patiently as Peter thought it over. It was his decision, no matter how she thought about it.
Peter had already made up his mind- he wanted to be an all-rounder, capable of using both magic and martial skills. More importantly, he had the potential to do so. His skill slots weren’t as limited as his parents believed.
To them, he only had one slot available.
He considered his options. Mana Manipulation… That seemed like a solid choice. It was one of the few Skills that didn’t need modification as a foundational ability, just like Mana Sense. The decision was swiftly taking shape in his mind.
“I want to learn swordsmanship from Dad,” he said at last, not mentioning what he was about to do.
He had already resolved this long ago, mastering weapons was his goal. That was why he was working on Weapon Mastery now.
Mariah sighed, looking slightly downcast. “That’s good. I was worried you might want to study the magical arts.”
She shook her head. “There’s no one in the village who can teach you that. And we wouldn’t be able to afford genuine magical tomes.”
She hesitated before adding, “Besides… we don’t even know when you’ll gain another point in Spirit. The magical path requires more foundational Skills than just Mana Sense and Mana Manipulation.”
The conversation settled into quiet contemplation, and for the next few hours, they focused on studying.
In the end, Peter accepted Mana Manipulation, without her knowledge.



Status...


Mana Manipulation Lv. 1
Mana is everywhere. It is both the most stable and the most unstable building block of the world. This Skill assists the user in manipulating mana in its various forms.


Rank:
Common



…
During dinner, Peter finally voiced the question that had been on his mind for weeks. “Dad, when can I start training with a sword?” It had been over a month of nothing but running, meditation, and footwork training.
Joseph didn’t even look up from his food as he replied, “Maybe in a few months.”
Mariah glanced at him and interjected, “He’s a child, dear. A change of pace would be good for him.”
Joseph paused, considering her words. “Hm... I guess you have a point. Maybe we can start working on your skill,” he mused.
Then, after a moment’s thought, he turned to Peter. “How about this, Pete? I’ll be heading into the woods to collect some herbs. Do you want to come with me?”
Peter nodded instantly. He always wanted to explore the ancient forest.
Mariah shot a sharp look at Joseph. “You better make sure my son returns safe if you’re taking him.”
“We won’t go too deep,” Joseph reassured her.
…
Next morning
The sky remained dark, and the air carried a sharp chill as Peter and his father made their way toward the forest. Dew clung to the grass, dampening their clothes below the knees. Peter carried a bag in his hand, while Joseph had his sword strapped to his side.
As they walked, Joseph’s tone shifted to cautious. “Once we enter the forest, make sure to follow my orders without question.”
The usual calm, thoughtful demeanour he carried was gone. His expression was vigilant, eyes constantly scanning their surroundings. Peter nodded, immediately sensing the seriousness in his father’s voice.
Joseph continued, remaining vigilant, “Until now, you’ve been using your Mana Sense with Meditation to observe your mana under my guidance. The Skill is far more versatile than that.” His gaze remained fixed ahead. “Today, we’ll work on using it outside.”
At last, they reached the boundary where the open grasslands ended and the dense forest began.