As Ingram walked to Pheasant’s Rest, he thought about the message and began to hesitate, ‘I know if I help them, my chances of exposing myself increase drastically and I have a feeling that wouldn’t end up well for me. If I don’t…’ Ingram’s eyes scanned the crowd of people, some had stoic expressions as they rushed to their destination, while others were slowly strolling around, some with excited children bouncing around. Ingram observed the peaceful scene before lowering his eyes again and sighing, ‘Whatever is in that forest could leave and endanger all these innocent people. Could I really leave despite having the power to help, if even a little?’ Ingram shook his head and bitterly thought, ‘I’m acting all self-righteous, whether I help or not, someone somewhere will rise to the occasion. I feel unsure of what to do.’ Ingram thought about all of the people in Yonder and felt a weight settle onto his shoulders.

  ‘What should I do? It’s at times like these that I wish I had someone to talk to. After all, helping others… is hard. Mainly because of the lies I told, I guess those sayings were right. All lies no matter how small are eventually revealed. Unless you personally rewrite history, but I’m not strong enough for that. I don’t even want to imagine what might happen to me if my magic is revealed. The obvious answer for me in this predicament is to just leave Yonder.’ Ingram sighed again, only for someone to bump into his back. He stumbled forward a few steps due to the sudden force before he caught himself.

  When he glanced behind him, he saw a little boy had fallen onto the ground. Ingram seriously thought about just walking away. As a person who grew up in a society where helping others out of kindness can land you with a hefty bill due to the other party’s lie. So, Ingram had grown accustomed to avoiding situations like this, his instincts were telling him to walk away. However, the kindness his family instilled in him made him gently kneel down to talk to the boy, at a safe distance of course, “Are you alright Kid?” The kid rubbed his forehead before jumping to his feet with tears brimming in his eyes, but he stubbornly held his tears in as he nodded.

  That was all Ingram needed to hear, well see, so he stood up, swiftly bushed the dirt off of his pant leg, before quickly walking away under the kid and the slowly gathering crowd’s dumbfounded gazes. ‘Being the center of attention never ends well. There are always people who don’t know the full story that made groundless accusations that make the victim into the perpetrator, or reversing black and white as they say.’ Ingram’s pace increased until he was far away from the murmuring crowd and he kept up his pace until he arrived at Pheasant’s Rest.

  Once the receptionist saw him, her professional smile faded away like snow on a burning hot pan. She sighed before muttering something under her breath. If Ingram cared, he would ask what the relationship is with Leon because it seems she’s always here, but he doesn’t care, instead he asks, “Are there any rooms available?” She quickly peeked at something on the desk in front of her before briefly responding, “No.” Ingram sighed and turned around to go look for another Inn to sleep in for the night when she spoke up again, “You won’t find an empty Inn right now. For some reason there’s been a large increase in visitors. According to my friends that work in the other three Inns, they have been fully booked. I mean fifty people suddenly visiting such a remote town, what are the odds. Usually, most people who come all the way out here are retired adventurers that want to buy a place far away from the stress of constantly fighting Monsters and guild and national politics.”

  Ingram froze at the door before sighing a breathless, “Thanks for the information.” Naturally he took her words with a grain of salt, mainly because Ingram only trusts in information he’s personally verified. ‘Now that I think about it, where are the other three Inns? Whatever, I’m going to eat something first. Once I satisfy my hunger, I should be able to see things with more clarity.’ Ingram tossed his living situation to the back of his mind in favor of finally putting a stop to his rumbling stomach. Since he has no idea what tastes good and what doesn’t he decided to look for a restaurant that has a lot of people.

  After nearly thirty minutes of wandering, he found a decent sized restaurant with a sizable crowd inside through the windows. After smoothing the wrinkles out his clothes and brushing off any lingering dirt on his body, Ingram stepped through the doorway. Once he did a male server with a polite smile walked over to him, “Hello sir, welcome to Drake’s Kitchen. Unfortunately, all of our tables are full, would you mind sitting at a counter seat?” Ingram’s eyes scanned the room and realized he was right, “That works for me. I’m not expecting any company.”

  The server nodded as he responded, “Thank you for your understanding. Right this way please.” The two quickly made their way over to the counter, where a mix group of people were chatting. When Ingram sat in his seat, some glanced at him before looking away, while others ignored him and kept chatting. He didn’t pay them any mind, instead he picked up the menu the server placed down at some point before vanishing. ‘Truly an Introverts worst nightmare, being in a new place surrounded by strangers. It might be worse, that server never told me how to order. I hate this exact awkward situation, now I have to pretend to read the menu until another server approaches me.’ At no point did getting the attention of a passing server register in Ingram’s mind.

  Just as Ingram studied the menu’s material, a familiar deep voice called out from behind him, “Oh, Ingram you’re here for dinner too?” Ingram looked over his shoulder and saw Leon Lion walking over, while another server trailed behind him with a dismayed expression. “Hello Leon. Yeah, I wanted to try eating a different kind of dish tonight.” Ingram’s small talk mode automatically activated upon realizing he knew this person. Leon sat down next to him as the server placed a menu down, only for Leon to stuff it back into her hands, “No need. I already know what I want. A steak cooked medium with a side of mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. What about you, have you decided yet?”

  Ingram thought he saw a halo appear above the old man’s head for an instant before he responded, “Yeah. Can I get the grilled chicken with a side of mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. Oh, can I also have a glass of water please?” The female server nodded and fished out a notepad with a pen stuffed into the pages from her pocket before quickly writing down both their orders before reading it back to them and asking, “Will that be all?” Leon added albeit reluctantly, “I forgot about my drink. Let me have a, it’s a weekday, glass of water. Thank you.” The server walked away with the notepad and the two menus as Leon turned to Ingram, “How have you been? I didn’t see you in the dining room for dinner yesterday.” Ingram shrugged his shoulders, “I lost track of time and just missed the cut off time. Yesterday was hectic with the sudden Beast Tide and all. I guess the sudden shock of the Beast Tide really drained my energy, you know?”

  Leon forcibly patted his back, “Yeah, you never forget your first beast tide, let alone one so large. Thankfully that variant mage stepped in to help the adventurers repel it. Otherwise, I would have had to come out of retirement.” Leon laughed as he patted Ingram’s back a few more times before holding his hands in front of him as his smile faded a bit and his brown eyes sharpened slightly. “Did you register as an adventurer yet? I put in a good word for you, so you shouldn’t be held up with too much paperwork. I may not be the man I was a few years ago, but I still have a lot of sway in the Adventurer’s Guild.” Ingram didn’t unpack that sentence and responded normally, “Yeah. Thanks to your recommendation I obtained the chance to instantly become an E-Rank Adventurer after passing a test with something called the Stone of Judgment. I was going to thank you at a later date when I get some money, so now’s a good of a time as any. Let me treat you to dinner.”

  Leon had a gratified expression mixed with something Ingram couldn’t understand. “That’s good. I didn’t recommend you to be rewarded, but sure since you're offering.” After a moment of silence, Leon spoke up again, “Have you decided on what job you want? If you want to be a Fighter or any other physical class, given your current physique, I think you should start working out. I can’t use magic, but I have a friend you can help you test to see if you can awaken your mana.” Ingram was slightly shocked, but he shook it off, but he still asked out of confusion, “Why are you doing so much for me? I don’t recall doing anything to earn your favor. We only met two days ago.”

  Leon laughed and before he could answer, their food arrived. “I’ll tell you later, for now it's time to dig in.” Ingram silently acquiesced and began to slowly eat his meal as he thought about how to escape from Yonder, ‘This town is getting too dangerous to remain in. I don’t believe that someone can be this kind without asking for anything in return. If I use my Physical Concealing Barrier, I should be able to escape without being noticed. Unless a skill exists that can see mana or something. If so, then the Magic Block Barrier or the Absolute Block Barrier should block it, but that would reveal my location. What if the spell is like echolocation and it bounces off magic, then I’d be in a boatload of trouble and escape would be much more difficult. What if there’s an assassin that one shots me, or what if a priest or another mage has a tracking skill or spell then no matter where I run to, I’d be captured.’ Although his thoughts began to run wild, his expression was one of contentment with a hint of bliss. In order to properly cover up his current thoughts, Ingram even looked over at Leon and said, “This chicken is pretty good.” Leon only nodded in agreement and the two ate in silence.

  After eating and drinking to their hearts content, the female server from before walked over with the bill, “Alright, are you together or separate?” Before Leon could answer, Ingram spoke up, “Together.” She nodded and quickly wrote something down before passing it to Ingram. “Here’s your bill, you can pay at the counter.” Ingram nodded before he stood up, with Leon following suit. As he did, Ingram looked at the total cost and sighed out of relief, “Three Silvers. That’s a lot cheaper than I thought it would be.” After handing over the bill and paying at the edge of the counter, the two men left the restaurant. Out on the street, the sun had begun to slowly fall from the sky as the temperature dropped a bit. “Walk with me for a bit.” Leon said as he began to walk down the earthen road, Ingram hesitated for a second before following.

  “You asked why I’m helping you so much. The main reason, instinct. I’ve always had an amazing instinct; it’s kept me out of danger and helped me find long-time allies. Although it’s not perfect, it reminds me when someone important is in front of me. You could say that I’m investing in you. If you’re an ungrateful person, then I lost so be it, but I have a feeling that my investment is going to pay off. I don’t know how or when, but I have a feeling it will.” Leon suddenly stopped walking and turned back to face Ingram with a serious expression, “Don’t feel burdened by my minor assistance, just treat it as an old adventurer helping a newcomer. I wish I had help in my early years, maybe I don’t want to see such a familiar person take a hard road. If he were still he, he’d support my actions. I guess I’m also projecting someone else onto you.” Leon’s expression warped into a bitter smile before he shook his head and walked away. Ingram watched the old man leave with confusion swirling in his mind.

  “How am I supposed to run away now.” Ingram sighed before rubbing his temples and walking the opposite direction, mostly because he didn’t have anywhere else to go tonight. Ingram decided to walk around for a while and take in the cool air as he thought about what to do next as a tight knot formed in his stomach. ‘I was taught to repay kindness with gratitude. I suppose the best repayment I can give Leon is the knowledge that his home and livelihood are safe.” Ingram took a deep breath and made a decision he hoped he wouldn’t regret, “I’ll take a risk and follow the expedition on their journey into the forest. At the very least I can do my advancement quests and get some experience at the same time.” Ingram felt a weight lift off of his shoulders as the knot in his stomach loosened and slowly faded away, leaving only numbness in its place.

  ‘Well, that’s for tomorrow’s me to worry about. Today’s me… what am I thinking.’ Ingram nearly facepalmed from the thoughts in his head. ‘Whatever, today I have more experiments to do, or well I guess it's not an experiment, rather a new possible creation. To solve my mobility problem, I’ll take from history and recreate the wheel in my own way.’ Ingram rubbed his magic pouch in his pocket as he got excited for no reason. ‘I realized that Barriers don’t rotate a while ago, but because it didn’t impact me in any way I ignored it. Now that I’m giving it some thought, why is that? Is it another example of my subconscious mind creating the result I want, or is there another reason? If I can make my barriers rotate, then I can make… I don’t really have a plan for if it works, I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. First things first, I need to make a new barrier component, then I need to figure out where to put it when making the magic circle. No, I’m getting ahead of myself again, baby steps. Creation doesn’t happen in a day.’ Ingram calmed himself down and continued on his walk to clear his mind.

  As Ingram was wandering around, a black-haired, blue-eyed man was bargaining with a stall owner over the price of a tattered piece of paper, “Brother, look. This isn’t a fair price. I mean, ten silvers for a piece of paper. That’s a rip off, I’m offering to buy this and this book,” The man randomly pointed at a tattered book at seemingly random, “For five silvers, trust me, I’m only offering this price because I realize it's not cheap to run a stall and I noticed you’ve been here for two days without making a sale. I feel bad for you and I’m a collector of ancient items. You won’t get a better deal from anyone else.” The black-haired, blue-eyed man patiently explained, and the young stall owner began to feel conflicted, “But my master said it’s worth ten silvers, as for that book, my master said its junk, I think he accidentally tossed it into the bag when he kicked me out. You can have it, If you buy this at the original price.”

  Suddenly the Black-haired man changed his tune, “Deal. I understand the struggle of having to serve a selfish master. You’ve been out here for two days, where have they been? I haven’t seen them once.” The sudden tone shift made the Stall Owner hesitate, but he was more afraid of his master’s wrath if he didn’t sell his goods to fund his next magic experiment. “Deal. Show me the money first, then you’ll get the goods.” The Stall Owner’s fear won over his curiosity, and the black-haired, blue-eyed man had a barely noticeable smirk appear on his lips, but he quickly smoothed out his expression as he took out the money. After counting them out, he placed them on the stall before he took his two items and left.

  Both men thought they had successfully swindled the other, so both were happy. “I can’t believe that fool said a hidden quest that leads to a Unique Class was junk. Ignorance is scary, but now it’s mine. Sorry Alchemy God, I took your Ancient Three Path Alchemist Class away. If what he shared, the location this book leads to is… where was it? It’s been so long since I read his boastful post.” The man rubbed his chin until he saw a familiar face, Ingram, walking around with his head lowered. A cruel smirk appeared on his face as he watched Ingram walk into the depths of a dark alley, “Oh, today’s my lucky day. I found an ancient legacy book, there are no guards around, and my number one cash cow is alone. I have to be fast, when the Magic Tower picks up my Magic signature they’ll send the guards. It’s a good thing I stole that Concealing scroll from the library earlier today, even though I’d prefer to save it, it’s only a Darkness Acolyte Rank Three scroll. I wonder what goodies he found so far.” The man muttered as he quickly followed Ingram down the alley.

  However, when he walked into the Alley, he didn’t see Ingram anywhere, so he quickly rushed to the other end of the alley but still didn’t see him. “He must have obtained the Instinct skill and sensed my malice. Lucky dog.” The black-haired blue-eyed man muttered before walking away, not knowing that Ingram had walked back out the way he came in within seconds. Just as Ingram didn’t know he had just barely missed being assassinated.

  ‘I should experiment outside of the town, city? I don’t know anymore. Just in case the magic circle or the resulting barrier blows up or something… I wasn’t worried before but now I am. I really hope it doesn’t explode; I never failed in making a magic circle before. Imagine if my head just exploded.’ Ingram thought with a hint of pessimism as he quickly walked towards the front gate. As he left, because he was somewhat scared of losing his way back, Ingram only entered the edge of the forest, just hidden from sight if one tried to look at him from the main gate.

  ‘Here should be fine. Now, how to depict rotation, that’s the question I need to answer.’ Ingram closed his eyes and entered his Magic Circle Space. As soon as he entered, he summoned nine magic circles and deconstructed them exposing all of their components. ‘Alright, I have a decent foundation in recreating Magic Circle Components. Most of the one’s I know were inherited from my class while the rest were more or less just minor modifications of previously learned components. So, I can safely say, I have never truly made a new magic circle component, like that world announcement said, I feel like a bit of a fraud for that. In order to rectify this, uh, flaw, my plan is to make a completely new magic circle component. Now the question is, how? I have an idea to work from, rotation. How is rotation depicted in picture form.’ Ingram seriously gave his idea some thought, having countless different possible images, only to realized they were a bit too complex for his art level.

  ‘I know how it’s done, well kind of. I watched a few art videos when I got bored and under the power of the Memory Reinforcement Skill, I remember every detail. Now that I’m thinking about it, motion is pictures is mostly noticeable through before and after images. I don’t think I can make a moving magic circle component, at least not with my current knowledge, maybe one exists. I’m only a Rank One Acolyte after all. I feel like I’m making this harder than it needs to be. I remember my eldest brother used to say, “Life is simple, it just people make it complex.” Simple, simple…’ Ingram had a flash of an epiphany, but it quickly faded away.

  ‘Wait, wait, what was it, I just had it. It’s on the tip of my proverbial tongue. I’m so close, I can feel it.’ Ingram tried everything, he rubbed his temples, massaged his glabella, he even tried to replicate his movements the moment he had the thought, but nothing worked. Ingram slumped forward and sighed, ‘It’s gone. I do know it had something to do with the word simple, so simple ideas only.’ Ingram scanned the barrier components and realized they all looked extremely simple kind of like, ‘These designs for barrier characteristics are surprisingly simple. It’s almost like the person who made them didn’t care what they looked like.’ Ingram stared at them with growing intensity as his eyes repeatedly scanned them.

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  ‘Complexity in simplicity. Each design looks simple but require so many layered lines to make such a simple form. When I master them, I suddenly obtain knowledge of how they work inside and out. It’s like I’m learning their concepts or something.’ Ingram suddenly had an idea, ‘I see, it’s not the form, but the intent that matters. The intent I learned through the form, or something esoteric like that.’ Ingram thought back to the sudden gain of knowledge he obtained from completely mastering his magic circle components.

  ‘I think I understand why I’m struggling so much, I’m trying to use logic to understand something created by a madman. It’s like trying to crack a rock to get yolk, no matter how hard I try it won’t work. I don’t need to think like him, rather I need to… to, I don’t know.’ Ingram slightly confused himself trying to make sense of the insane ‘Intent, form. What if that thought process is wrong. What do all my barriers have in common, Mixed Mana. That’s nigh impossible for me to understand with my current knowledge, even the Magic Tower doesn’t know what my Mana is. I mean what does a little bit of everything even mean?’ Ingram shook his head, not noticing the mana in his body had begun to grow unstable after being affected by his conflicted and agitated mental state. If it were any other mage, their mana would have rampaged by know, it’s only because of Mixed Mana inert nature that only now it had begun to move.

  Ingram was too lost in thought to realize the danger he was in, ‘Putting Mana aside, what do all of my barriers have in common… nothing, but, other than two, the rest of them share the moniker, “Physical” so that has to mean something. I feel like I’m on to something.’ Ingram sank further into his excited thoughts accidentally neglecting his mana that had begun to affect his three magic circles, making them flicker with a dark grey light. ‘Basic Barrier Mage and the moniker “Physical”, they have to be connected. The basics, or fundamentals. Why would the word “Physical” be so important that of the eight barrier characteristics, six share that word.’ Ingram’s expression sank as he struggled to connect the two, as his barriers began to fade in and out of existence.

  Suddenly, he opened his eyes and looked at his hands, ignoring his flickering magic circles and shifting barriers. ‘What’s the one thing that everything in the world has, a body, a Physical Body.’ Suddenly Ingram’s eyes lit up as he stood up and laughed at the sky, “I finally understand, Basic Barrier Magic correlates to the Physical World. The end goal is to understand the Physical World and how it functions. That explains why I can see energy in the Physical Isolation Barrier.” Suddenly, Ingram’s magic circles exploded, and his barriers shattered in an instant as his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fainted. If Ingram were awake, he would have seen the system prompts,

  {Mana Disruption: Due to an agitated mental state, your mana lashes out and collides with your will.}

  {Soul Shock: Due to internal forces your soul has been impacted and have been knocked unconscious.}

  {Class Enlightenment: You have understood the true meaning of your class. Learning Class exclusive knowledge is 100% easier.}

  As for the reason Ingram’s mana ran rampant, it was entirely due to him losing focus, even on a subconscious level. So, his Magic Circles absorbed more mana than they needed, causing the excess mana to overflow and quickly rush back into his body to make up for the difference, making his inert mana vibrate. If it ended there, it would have been fine, but due to losing mana, the Magic Circles absorbed more, creating a devastating cycle that resulted in his mana rebelling and colliding with his will that suddenly spiked due to his agitation of figuring out his class.

  The best way to imagine this is to image a hole created by an earthquake colliding with a sudden surge in the tide, what would be the result? Naturally, because water flows to the lowest point, the water is sucked down into the hole created by the earthquake as the rest of the sea is pulled back by the tide, separating the two. That’s what happened to his willpower, it got stuck in between his vibrating mana and by extension Ingram’s mind got a violent shake. Thankfully, Ingram’s soul, the origin of willpower, wasn’t like water, instead it was solid, like a rock. So, it shook and Ingram fainted from the mind splitting pain. Now if he didn’t have an abnormally dense soul, best case scenario, his soul might have been damaged, like a tear on a piece of paper. Worst case, a section of his soul would have been split off by his mana, like water falling into a deep hole. This was how Ingram’s third day ended.

  When Ingram woke up out of habit, he was leaning against a tree with a throbbing headache. ‘What happened?’ Just as that thought appeared in his head, a sharp pain in his made him sharply inhale as his faces scrunched up and he clenched his teeth. After focusing on just breathing, the pain slowly ebbed away but it was lingering at the edge of his mind. ‘Why does my head hurt so bad? Even thinking hurts.’ Ingram clenched his teeth to endure the pain as he did his best to adjust to the pain just to have a complete thought. The pain slowly increased, and his body felt like countless ants were gnawing on his bone just under his skin making him feel all tingly before fading away and resurfacing again. It hurt in a way that hurt more than just feeling pain.

  Ingram looked up at the dark sky and felt like not much time passed, so he breathed a sigh of relief. ‘I wasn’t out for long. Still, what happened to me? System?’ The familiar platinum system window appeared in front of his face, the non-existent light from the floating window seemed to make the pain in his head fade slightly. After regaining some semblance of control over his mind, he saw three minimized pop-ups, so he opened them. ‘Mana Disruption and Soul Shock? Is that what happened to me? How? I wasn’t doing anything. I don’t understand, so I won’t think about it.’ Ingram’s mentally closed the system prompts before focusing on the third with an ecstatic expression. ‘I knew it. Class Enlightenment, and its effects are amazing, well for me anyway. I still have a lot to learn and master so this will help me a lot.’ Ingram mentally celebrated as he tried to move his toes. Once they wiggled, the tested his hands, then his arms and legs, he gently touched his torso, neck, and head. After ensuring they were still okay and he didn’t feel any pain, he gently pushed himself up with his hands before slowly climbing to his feet. As he did, it felt like all the blood rushed to his head and he nearly fell forward, but he caught himself with a heavy stomp and straining his body. With a heavy breath, Ingram slowly straightened his spine until he stood up completely.

  As he did, he felt all tingly as a shiver crawled up and down his spine, other than that, the pain had disappeared by this point. ‘Never again. I don’t know what I did, but I don’t want to experience it again.’ Ingram sighed as he felt the cool night breeze before freezing. As hastily waved his hands in front of him but didn’t feel the expected wall. ‘Where’s my barrier? Did the Mana Disruption remove my barriers too. Now that my minds clear, I can’t feel my magic circles, were they destroyed? This is bad, I’m exposed.’ Ingram felt a wave of fear wash over him as he came to the realization, he was unconscious for an undermined amount of time, completely exposed in the forest. He quickly entered his Magic Circle Space and started filling two magic circles with a combined 1,163 MP. He felt a hint of pain that quickly gave way to a wave of relief as the tingling sensation on his body faded away as his mana was pulled into two Magic Circles.

  After just a tiny bit over eight seconds, two dark grey magic circles appeared along with two system prompts,

  {Judgment: Magic Circle is 86.67% accurate. Barrier strength is decreased by 13.33%.

  Perfect Barrier Strength: 5,834.64 | Penalty applied, New Barrier Strength: 5,025.47

  8 Proficiency Points gained.}

  {Judgment: Magic Circle is 80% accurate. Barrier strength is decreased by 20%.

  Perfect Barrier Durability: 5,834.64 HP | Penalty applied, New Barrier Durability: 4,667.71 HP

  8 Proficiency Points gained.}

  After they encased his body and he vanished from sight, Ingram heaved a sigh of mental and physical sigh of relief, ‘That was dangerous. While we scared off the beasts, who knows how many are silently lurking around Yonder, even though I’m not very deep into the forest it’s still too dangerous to be exposed. At least I wasn’t out for long.’ Ingram looked up at the somewhat starry sky and felt a wave of comfort wash over him. ‘I remember stargazing with my siblings. I remember really wanting a telescope when I was younger, so I got a job to buy one but…’ Ingram sighed as he looked up at the unfamiliar stars before returning his gaze back to the silent earth with a slight shake of his head.

  ‘What now? I’m not really in the mood to attempt making new magic circle component.’ Ingram stood in place for a while before hearing a distant wolf howling. ‘Yeah, I should return to Yonder for now. I still need to follow those adventurers into the anomalous forest, as they called it. I’ll ignore the reward and just leave once I help them discover the source of the anomaly. That way I can repay Leon for all his help, but I have to leave while the adventurers are on their way back. Otherwise, it would be too easy to link me to the mysterious mage if an investigation takes place. You can never be too safe, though that might also raise some red flags.’ Ingram fell into a difficult situation to protect his identity, but his legs continued to move towards the front gate.

  He still hadn’t come up with a good idea even as he approached the sealed gate. ‘Ah, the gates closed.’ Ingram sighed as he looked at the large metal gate and the steep stone walls. Usually, he’d wait for someone to enter or exit, but that’s not currently possible due to how late it is. ‘Am I stuck out here until they open it in the morning?’ Ingram sighed as he sat against the wall next to the gate. As he leaned his head against the wall, he had a realization. He turned his head and used what light the moon gave to see his barrier had phased into the wall. ‘I have an idea, all I need is two plate barriers that are at least a meter long. Oh, I almost forgot that I need to be able to touch them.’ Ingram planned as he entered his Magic Circle Space and quickly made two One Meter, Plate Physical Block Barriers and started filling with a sum of 710 MP.

  After a teeny tiny bit over eight seconds, two magic circles appeared with a system prompt. Once he heard it, without his thoughts getting in the way, Ingram could finally place where he heard the sound, ‘The System Prompts kind of sound like those tiny delicate silver bells. I haven’t heard them in a while, so I forgot.’

  {Judgment x2: Magic Circle is 100% accurate

  Perfect Barrier Strength: 5,834.64

  10 Proficiency Points gained.}

  Ingram quickly got to work, first, naturally he stood up and took a few steps back to face the wall. Second, he chose a very low point and summoned his Physical Block Barrier slightly inside of the wall. ‘Now comes the moment of truth, will it fall like in the Inn or will it hold my weight with the assistance of the wall.’ Ingram slowly placed his right foot on the barrier and slowly started to apply his weight to it. Unlike before when he stepped on the three-inch barrier a few days ago, he didn’t feel the mental burden. After pushing down with as much force as his frail body could, he lifted his left foot off the ground and remained perfectly still as he waited to see if he felt anything. ‘Huh, this might actually work.’ Ingram got a boost of confidence, so he quickly summoned the next barrier and stepped on it before removing the other and repeating this process until he reached the top of the wall. ‘That wasn’t so hard, it was like climbing stairs. Only the stair behind me disappeared and I had to do my best not to think about how high I climbed as he stared at the ground getting further away with each step I climbed.’ Ingram safely stood on the top of the wall and looked around for a safe way down.

  ‘I saw that sometimes walls have a slope to allow for horses to quickly run around them to deliver supplies and aid to other parts of the wall. Wait, that was for much smaller walls. This wall has to be at least a few meters thick and maybe tens of meters tall. Never mind, I’ll just go down the way I came up. I just have to take it nice and slow. I also have to hope a patrolling guard or guards don’t see the barriers… I should make my descent fast.’ Ingram peeked over the edge to search for any people that might be around and felt his head spin from the height. He quickly pulled his head back over the edge and held a hand over his rapidly beating heart.

  “I forgot, I’m not good with heights. No, I can’t let this stop me, like my second brother said, “You have to face your fears to grow.” I can do this, I’m not scared… I’m terrified. I hope I don’t, no, I don’t want to jinx myself.’ Ingram thought with shaky legs as he summoned the first barrier, not caring at this point that someone might see it. He slowly crawled onto it before summoning the next at a much lower height, so he doesn’t feel like he’s standing on the edge of the wall. He slowly lowered his shaking legs onto the barrier before standing up and doing his best not to look down as he hugged the wall. Step after step, Ingram descended until his shaky legs met hard earth.

  He didn’t care about his image and collapsed to his knees as his legs finally gave out now that he was safe. ‘That was terrifying, yet exciting. Is this what those thrill seekers chase? I hate it.’ Ingram mentally grumbled before using the wall as a support and pulling himself to his feet. After he regained his footing, he quickly made his way to the Adventurer’s Guild. ‘I had a lot of time to think about my plan, but I think if I take a quest before the others leave, I won’t be linked to the mysterious mage. Or if I do, I can reveal whatever I needed to gather to complete my quest as a somewhat perfect alibi. All I need is a perfect quest that would have me outside for a long time, preferably a day. Well, most gathering quests take a few days, I just have an innate advantage in finding things.’ Ingram planned and boasted as he tried to ignore his rapidly beating heart.

  In the alley next to the Guild, Ingram sat on the ground after he saw the doors were shut, so he decided to wait. ‘Now, we wait. Because I took a nap earlier, I’m not tired. What to do, what to do. I don’t have any cards or dice, so a solo game is out of the question. I guess I could try out that new enlightenment benefit. I want to see if I can perfect my Shape: Sphere. If I can, my barriers should get stronger, I mean twenty percent accuracy is just so low. Whoever made that air seal or whatever it was supposed to be, did a really bad job. It must have been a novice mage, wait there’s a title for that, uh, Acolyte, right? Ah, I don’t care, whoever or whatever made it a bad job, and they should feel bad. Though I will admit I’m impressed that the seal lasted longer than the door did.’ Ingram mused before gaining a serious expression. ‘At least that experience taught me that learning magic is much harder for the people of this world. I can spend some Class Points to instantly learn it while they have to slowly learn and understand it before mastering each component. They’re much more impressive than a cheater like me, or us players.’ Ingram sighed as he played with his fingers, “I suppose that’s just how life is. Some get cheats while others have to struggle for what they want. I’m glad I’m on the cheater side, though I have to wonder if there are benefits to learning everything through effort.’ Ingram fell silent and looked at his hands in confusion.

  “Is instantly learning my magic the best course of action or am I losing something from not doing so? I wish someone could answer my doubts, this is a demerit of being one of the first players, there are no guides to teach me these things… Why don’t I become the first. I mean, I could walk the path of effort and see if that makes a difference. I already have an example of the system’s way; I instantly learn everything about the component and the concepts contained within. Let’s master Sphere through effort to see the difference, if I still get the bonus knowledge then the way of Class Points is the way to go. But, if I don’t then, the way of Class Points is the way to go from the start. I also want to know if raising my accuracy decreases the required Class Points. There’s too much knowledge tied to this idea. If I walk the path of effort now, I can save myself and countless other players countless hours of effort.’ Ingram’s eyes brightened as he came to his decision.

  For the next hour, Ingram was focused on drawing circles. At first it was a single line, only for the accuracy to be a measly one percent. So, he copy pasted the knowledge from his head and stared intently at the resulting twenty percent accurate component. Ingram had the two float in front of him as he intently studied the differences with his eyes. As he did so, he realized he couldn’t see through either, they looked similar but felt different. ‘Where is this feeling coming from? Is it the depth of the line? Is it the color of the line? Is it how many lines? Is it the intent placed in them?’ Ingram studied the two and realized his one percent was just a circle, while the twenty percent had a very faint shading inside making it a sphere.

  Ingram’s bloodshot eyes lit up, ‘I’m so stupid, it's in the name “Sphere”, but I drew a circle. The correct answer is shading. Okay, okay. I got this, this time I’ll shade it.’ He followed his plan to the letter, carefully shading the circle. After he finished, Ingram felt he had never drawn such a perfect sphere, mainly because he wasn’t very good at art. Thankfully, he didn’t have to draw his magic circle components by hand instead he used his mind otherwise, with his shaky hands, he was sure his magic circle accuracy would be abysmal. After completing it and stopping his drawing, the system gave him an accuracy rating,

  {Host as created a Magic Circle Component, Shape: Sphere

  Judgment: Shape: Sphere is 99% Accurate.}

  Ingram felt like swearing when he saw he was only one percent away. ‘Calm down me. Don’t get angry, remember what your sister said, “Anger is poison for the skin.” I don’t want to develop a stress rash. Where did I mess up?’ Ingram scanned the, in his opinion, a perfectly drawn sphere, from the original circle to the shading, Ingram couldn’t find the flaw. ‘System, where’s the flaw. Tell me please.’ Ingram mentally pleaded and to his astonishment he got a response, {Host, perfection does not exist in the land of mortals}. However, the answer he got was less than ideal, ‘What you mean? I drew countless perfect magic circle components.’ As if the system was feeling generous, it gave him another answer, {Host, you forcibly learned from perfection, so the result was perfect. The original creator was beyond the realm of man}.

  ‘Okay, so if I’m understanding this right, only someone “beyond the realm of man” can make a perfect magic circle. So, does that mean the highest level of magic in this world is only ninety-nine percent accurate? That doesn’t make sense, I made my own components and they were perfect. Just look at Size: Thirty Meter, or Characteristic: Absolute Block. Both are labeled as perfect, but I didn’t learn them from anyone, I made them.’ Ingram argued, but the system’s retort stunned him, {Host, where did the information you used to make those Magic Circle Components come from?}

  Ingram could only bitterly smile, because he knew they were both born from a component that had reached one hundred percent. The Block trio and Size: Two Meters, were the foundation for Absolute Block and the four sizes, respectively. ‘So, I can’t make a perfect component by myself?’ The system’s final answer confused him, {Host, to reach perfection, transcend the realm of mortals and touch the divine. All of Host’s questions have been answered, now calculating how much Merit to take.} Ingram’s expression changed, but he stopped himself from asking anymore questions because he was unsure of what Merit could be used for, so he didn’t want to spend any on useless questions. {Due to being the first player all Merit costs are halved. You are required to spend sixteen Merit, but due to your special status, only eight Merit shall be used to offset your debt.} Ingram felt confused, but he got his answers.