Stuffed with insect meat Ethan walked through the forest until he heard the telltale sign of a river, the lifebringing flow of water. When he finally stood before it he not only cleaned himself but also quenched his now rediscovered thirst. During the time he didn't need to eat, which was at this point a couple of weeks, he was now once again relying on simple nutrition to fuel his body. When compared to magic it felt so inefficient and wasteful as you had to eat and drink with the energy only slowly getting absorbed by your body, it took away time that could be used in more productive ways.

As he understood it, you needed to reach a certain level until you no longer required eating and drinking. He hadn't reached that point, even if he wished he had, but during those thirty days he would test how long he could maintain peak efficiency without food or water. Sitting on the ground next to the rushing water while he waited for his robe to dry he thought about his next steps. One month wasn't a long time if he looked back on the rest of the tutorial so he had to plan accordingly.

When you heard the word fantasy there were a few things you thought about subconsciously. Like objects, magical powers or monstrous beings. The essence of fantasy was about magic and dragons, large scale battles, men wearing full plate armor while riding on horses into battle. Giant cities that shouldn't be possible with their imposing architecture that got besieged by an army of savages, exotic languages and races that were so similar or very different from humanity, having other values and ways of life.

The thing you don't even waste a thought on is the in between. How someone obtained magic they used, how dragons came into being evolving from simpler creatures that got influenced by magic, what followed after the war that brought so much death to the people, how cities needed to be rebuilt to become a home again. How different races clashed under the surface when not only the color of your skin but also your heritage and way of life as whole get looked down at by other races. When Ethan looked at his tutorial and how he grew in power over time, the enemies he faced and the allies he lost, suddenly not everything turned out to be fame and glory after all. There was so much hatred involved in everything. He had only thirty days and that time needed to be used wisely. For now he would commit at least a week of that time to studying, because he knew there was more to this new universe than just the system. The system was just a form to interact with the magic of the universe, it was all powerful and not at the same time, at least that was his guess. The entire lack of information could only be designed and so he thought about what he knew about the system.

It was intelligent, observant and it could think for itself which was important when you shaped the paths of billions of people every day…billions, more like trillions, but even that might not be high enough as a number as it encompassed 152 universes now.

In a multiverse with so many gods it was even more powerful, creating this tutorial alone must consume a ridiculous amount of power every minute, something no mortal or immortal for that fact could wield, because even the gods themselves were under the system and never above it. But the system was flexible too, you couldn't fully control it but make suggestions for your path and influence it that way. That would suggest that the system was not the enemy.

In turn through your actions, your behavior and your skills you can achieve a certain path, guided by a higher power. The system would give you the base for it, it let you choose what you wanted after all. Picking your class is one of the only decisions you have total control over, the second one was the boon you could choose as a newly integrated citizen. After that the system suggests paths for you, it ensures you have a viable way forward but it won't stop you if you decide to cripple yourself, also it won't present you a path to the top on a silver platter. You had to work for it. In the end it was helpful but not a safety net you could rely on all the time. The only person responsible for what you become is yourself.

Following this train of thought a bit further brought Ethan to a conclusion, he could use the classes and skills the system gave him, but there were two ways to do it. For one he could just get comfortable and rely on them in their initial state without striving for improvement or, and this was the path he would take, improve yourself further by putting in the work and the hours to learn more until not only you recognize your efforts but also the system finds them noteworthy enough to reward you.

He saw it happen with his ritualism before and while the skill seems difficult to improve now he knew there was a way to push it over the edge and upgrade its rarity once again. Because the qualitative change a skill goes through when upgraded through effort was like day and night. The thing was, just doing rituals wasn't enough, he needed to push himself too and find more creative ways for his skill, it was not only about knowledge or control but also the act of exploring the way of your skill, so you can use all the potential it has to offer. While he could try to improve his ritualism more there were two skills that had basically no worth for him currently, those were [Staff Mastery(Basic)] and [Elemental Infusion(Basic)] two skills that wouldn't be missed on his stat sheet if he was honest with himself, they weren't bad in a practical sense, just unnecessary. During most of his tutorial he fought at a distance and while the fight with Ouroboros was painful it was also a big help in understanding how skills could be gained. Because the system didn't offer them every few levels, he needed to find them himself. Only once did he receive such a chance and that was way back at level 5. Ethan guesses that it not only should help you out but also provide information for the system.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

When you use the skill you received at level five regularly and with success it would be the perfect information to determine the subclasses you get offered. The system having access to so much data certainly increased your chances, especially when you provided more yourself. If you kill enemies the same way over and over again it wouldn't be very helpful for the statistics.

Ethan jumped to his feet and grabbed his staff that laid next to him. With a wave of his hand he let a pillar of ice rise from the river, the water crashed against the sudden obstruction and water splashed into all directions. With a simple jump he landed on the pillar and sat down on it, his legs crossed. Ethan's pale bare chest moved up and down, his breathing was slow and steady as he examined the staff in his hand. Slender fingers danced over the surface of the wood before he used [Elemental Infusion] on it. Like his perfect ice manipulation the staff frosted over and was more resilient than before, he instinctively knew it would now inflict a minor amount of cold damage when he hit someone.

The skill wasn't simple, having a simple staff take on the beneficial effects of an element without the downsizes was impressive as the water in a normal staff would just expand and damage the wood when it's frozen. Just imagining a fire wizard infusing his staff with his element only for it to turn to ash after a few hits. Ethan's eyes wandered over the wood, it wasn't that different from his ice manipulation but there was a difference, he could feel it…somehow.

While he could also force ice mana into objects to benefit from it, this skill didn't force the object to accept the energy, it intertwined with whatever was already there. He could feel the difference, the brute force of his free form magic and the precision of elemental infusion. So what else was there to do than try to recreate it and improve on the concept he saw in front of him.

Ethan slammed the end of his staff into the pillar, freezing it in place. In quick succession he drew some symbols into the ice, his finger drawing them right into the surface like it was just loose sand. Wrapping his hands around the staff he closed his eyes and focused. Understanding. That was the main component to achieving new skills and upgrades, the system only provided the basic knowledge on how to use it. It was his job to further improve his understanding and learn more about the skill. So Ethan analysed the flow of energy, he compared it to his own version and even tried to do both at the same time. What followed was a long list of experiments that should lead him to the answer he sought. Full infusion, partial infusion, trying to overflow the staff with mana, have the energy expand past the staff and so on.

At one point something clicked when he infused the staff with the skill and he tried to cast magic, it had a small increase in power and then he remembered the description of the skill.

"Allows the caster to infuse his elemental mana into an object, can grant buffs or debuffs depending on the object and desired result of the caster"

It seemed the skill was more versatile than he thought at first, especially when it could be used for spellcasting and not only to whack people with a frozen staff. Ethan opened his eyes and smiled. This skill was important, not only for melee and spells but also for rituals. Combined with the staff that was already a focus object for rituals, he could make them more efficient than before.

Who said you need to use the skill to infuse a weapon or a shield? Why not a plate of stone that you drew a ritual on? Suddenly there were so many possibilities swirling inside his mind and it seems he actually got rewarded for realizing something about this skill.

[Elemental Infusion(Basic)] -> [Elemental Infusion(Advanced)]

Grinning like a kid he looked at his staff, there was so much to do now. This could improve his overall effectiveness by leaps and bounds! Before he could bend down to work on a new ritual his head snapped to the side.

It wasn't the direction Nora was in but the opposite. Something dark and vile, the energy he felt was disgusting and sadly he knew it too well. It seems James would show his ugly face again, that monster actually managed to reach the last circle and do the bidding of his patron…again. Ethan jumped from the pillar and put his robe on, staff in hand he turned to the origin of that cursed energy. First he walked but then he started jogging at a reasonable pace, he did not want to arrive exhausted in case a fight was imminent. But there was still no time to waste.

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