I sat in my inn room, staring at the ceiling as night fell over Greyford.

The room was small but clean, a single bed, a washbasin, a narrow window overlooking the street below where lamplight cast pools of orange across wet cobblestones.

The sounds of the town settling in for the evening filtered through.

I sighed, running my hand over my face.

The conversation with Victor had gone... better than expected, actually.

I'd shown him the fake Academy credentials Gerald had somehow slipped into my pocket along with the vial, official-looking enough to be convincing, fake enough to justify my story.

Victor had examined it with the practiced eye of someone who'd dealt with fraudulent documents before, his expression darkening as he realized the implications.

"Counterfeit credentials," he'd muttered. "If students are buying these to falsify their records..." He'd looked at me then, something almost resembling approval in his eyes. "You might have actually found something useful for once."

He'd taken the document to the local guard, filing a report about merchants disturbing public order and selling illegal forgeries. They'd promised to investigate, though I doubted they'd find anything.

After that, Victor had just scolded me but nothing more severe. No beating. No extended lecture. Just irritation that I'd made his job harder.

Then he'd gone to the Knights' headquarters to report in, leaving me alone at the inn with strict instructions to stay put until morning.

Which brought me to now.

I pulled the vial from my coat pocket, holding it up to the lamplight.

The deep crimson liquid swirled inside, catching the flame and refracting it into strange patterns.

It looked expensive. Dangerous. The kind of thing that should probably come with a dozen warnings.

Permanently increases Mana Capacity.

The debug analysis had been clear. This was genuine.

But I'd just gotten it from a merchant who appeared and disappeared like a ghost, who'd stolen my sword without me noticing, who'd set up shop in the worst possible location and somehow knew exactly what I needed.

Should I drink this?

My fingers tightened around the glass.

What if the analysis was wrong? What if there were side effects the system couldn't detect? What if it was poisoned, cursed, designed to do something horrible that wouldn't show up in a simple item scan?

What if—

I stopped myself, recognizing the spiral of paranoia for what it was.

You're overthinking this. Your system would have flagged anything dangerous. The analysis said it is real.

And you need every advantage you can get if you're going to survive this world.

I pulled the cork from the vial.

"Whatever," I muttered to the empty room. "I have Poison Resistance."

I tipped the vial back and drank.

The liquid hit my tongue, thick, syrupy, tasting like copper and something sharper I couldn't identify. It burned going down, not painful exactly, just hot, like swallowing liquid fire.

Then the effect hit.

Oh fuck!

My head exploded with sensation.

Not pain, not exactly, but burning... white-hot pressure building behind my eyes, in my temples, spreading down my spine like molten metal being poured through my nervous system.

I gasped, doubling over, hands gripping the edge of the bed as waves of heat rolled through me.

Every nerve ending felt like it was being rewritten, rewired, expanded beyond its normal capacity.

My mana channels suddenly felt wider, deeper, like someone had taken a narrow stream and carved it into a river.

The burning intensified, peaked...

Then slowly began to fade.

The heat receded like a tide pulling back, leaving behind something new. Something different.

I could feel it immediately.

My mana felt... clearer. More present. Like I'd been seeing the world through a dirty window and someone had just wiped it clean.

The ambient mana in the air, in the walls, in the very ground beneath the inn, I could sense it now with a precision I'd never had before.

Then the notifications started.

[Ding!]

[Ding!]

[Rank Upgraded!]

[E —> D]

[+2 to all stats | +5 allocation points]

[Level Up!]

[16 —> 17]

[+5 allocation points]

[Skill Upgraded: Mana Circulation —> Mana Reservoir (Passive)]

[Effect: Mana regeneration increased by 25%. Maximum MP pool receives a 15% bonus to base capacity after each full regeneration.]

The information flooded in faster than I could process it, each notification layering over the last until my vision was filled with glowing text.

[STATUS]

Name: Jin Raith

Age: 17

Class: Debugger

Level: 17

EXP: 270/2,500

Rank: D

MC (Mana Capacity): 158/220

HP: 840/840

MP: 182/182

Stats:

STR: 28 —> 30

VIT: 29 —> 31

AGI: 22 —> 24

INT: 69 —> 71

WIS: 40 —> 42

LUK: 16 —> 18

Allocation Points: 10

Skills: Poison Resistance (69%), Social Engineering, Alchemy (Basic), Debug Vision, Iron Will (Passive), Light Orb, Mana Reservoir (Passive) [NEW]

Combat:

Unorthodox Fang (Proficiency: 64%)

I stared at the window, my breath coming faster.

D-rank.

And the new skill, Mana Reservoir, was already working. I could feel it.

This is insane.

I dismissed the status window and sat back on the bed, my hands still trembling slightly from the aftereffects.

Gerald had just given me what amounted to months of training compressed into a single potion.

Why?

The question sat heavy in my mind.

Merchants didn't just hand out legendary items to random strangers. Not without expecting something in return.

He took my sword.

A standard blade, modified but still relatively common. Worth maybe a few silver at most.

In exchange for a potion that was literally priceless.

The math didn't make sense.

Unless...

Unless he wasn't interested in equivalent exchange. Unless he wanted something else. Information? Future favors? Just chaos?

I shook my head, forcing the my thoughts back down.

Deal with it when it becomes a problem. Right now, focus on what you have.

D-rank. Increased stats. And ten allocation points burning a hole in my status screen.

I pulled the window back up, studying the numbers.

Where do I put them?

STR and VIT are decent but not exceptional. I could boost them to improve my physical combat capability.

AGI would help with speed, useful in fights but not critical with my current fighting style.

INT and WIS directly affected my mana pool and control. Already my highest stats, but dumping points there would make my magical abilities significantly stronger.

LUK was... luck. Hard to quantify, impossible to predict, but potentially game-changing in the right circumstances.

I sat there for a long moment, weighing options.

Then made my decision.

I allocated the points with a thought.

[INT: 71 —> 75]

[WIS: 42 —> 45]

[AGI: 24 —> 26]

[LUK: 18 —> 19]

The changes weren't as dramatic as the potion's effect, but I felt them immediately. My thoughts felt sharper, clearer.

My MP pool updated: 182 —> 190

Not a huge jump, but every point counted.

I dismissed the window and lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling again.

Outside, sun had downed the horizon.

Before I could close my eyes.

I heard a sharp voice.

"Help!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.