Archie made his way toward the Assistant village, his stomach full of Evelyn's vegetable soup. However, just as he was about to reach the village, he saw something peculiar off into the distance.

  An orange-yellow rabbit with long ears and an overly muscular body, faced off against an overly buff-looking lizard. The two animals circled each other, their eyes never leaving one another. Suddenly, The rabbit suddenly let out a high-pitched squeal causing the iguana to respond in kind with a sharp hiss.

  [Emernian Rabbit Lv 25

  [Emernian Iguana Lv 20

  Archie thought as he crouched down, eyes glued to the two animals about to fight. There was no way he was going to miss the first bit of entertainment he’d had since the tutorial began.

  The rabbit leaped into the air, easily reaching a height of four meters, its rear right paw aimed at the iguana’s head. The iguana, however, was quick on its feet, sidestepping the rabbit’s front kick with ease.

  With a swift motion, the iguana slapped the rabbit aside with its spiked tail, slicing into its flesh and drawing the first blood.

  Archie’s eyes went wide as he covered his mouth.

  The rabbit bared its teeth, stomping the ground and kicking up a small dust cloud, covering the two. Moments later, the iguana was sent flying from the cloud, tumbling through the air before crashing to the ground. It shook its head, staring at the rabbit that emerged from the dust, a cut forming on its left cheek.

  Thanks to Archie’s high perception, he could clearly see what had happened. The rabbit extended the claws on its front paws, cutting across the iguana’s cheek before leaping into the air to deliver a spinning back kick that launched the iguana away.

  Archie stared at the rabbit in disbelief.

  The iguana hissed at the rabbit, causing the rabbit to bare its fangs and squeal angrily.Archie’s jaw-dropping at the iguana's actions.

  The rabbit kicked off the ground and charged headfirst at the iguana. Seeing the rabbit off the ground, the iguana opened its mouth and spat a green liquid at it. The liquid splashed across the rabbit’s face with a sizzling sound.

  The rabbit lost balance mid-jump, tumbling to the ground with a painful squeal.

  The iguana quickly scuttled toward the downed rabbit and pounced on it, its jaws snapping onto its neck. The rabbit flailed around, its limbs kicking at everything in an attempt to shake off the iguana, but the iguana’s grip was unyielding.

  A soft cracking sound echoed from the two, and the rabbit’s body went limp. The iguana had won, and it now feasted on its spoils.

  Archie stood up and began clapping loudly. This was the best thing he’d ever witnessed.

  The sudden noise made the iguana freeze, its eyes wide with fright. It turned to Archie, staring in fear, too cautious to move in case it provoked him.

  Archie nodded with respect at the iguana before turning away, making his way toward the Assistant village.

  The iguana stared at Archie’s back with both fear and confusion, its jaws still latched onto the rabbit’s neck.

  Archie reached the Assistant village with a smile on his face. The fight between the rabbit and iguana was amazing.

  Entering the village center, Archie found Xelgar sitting on a rocking chair on his porch looking at his Aetherglass with furrowed brows.

  “Hello, Archie,” Xelgar said, looking up from his Aetherglass with a smile and tapping his neck. “How are you?”

  “Great and you?” Archie asked, a smile on his face.

  “Great,” Xelgar said as he tossed the Aetherglass behind his back. Just as the Aetherglass passed by his head it vanished—presumably into his spatial storage.

  Xelgar gave Archie a long, appraising look before sighing. “You’ve got spatial storage too, don’t ya?” Archie smiled and nodded in confirmation. “You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve gotten looks of disbelief pulling that stunt with your fellow Tutorial Participants. Now that my ego has been hit, what’s up?”

  “I just witnessed the greatest fight of all time not far from here,” Archie said, excitement lighting up his face. Xelgar’s eyes sparked with intrigue, his previously bummed demeanor disappearing in an instant.

  “Do tell,” Xelgar urged, leaning forward with interest quickly closing the distance between the two of them.

  “You wouldn’t believe it,” Archie replied with a grin. He then launched into a vivid recounting of the battle he had seen just outside the village, his hands moving animatedly as he illustrated each moment of the fight.

  After Archie finished, Xelgar looked at him with a deadpan expression, “That rabbit did not do a spinning backkick.”

  “I swear it did,” Archie said, both his tone and face were completely serious. Xelgar looked at Archie before looking off at the entrance of the village and grabbing the lower half of his face with his right hand, brows furrowed. “I believe you.”

  A thin strip of paper, adorned with intricate symbols, appeared between Xelgar’s fingers as he spoke, his tone devoid of any humor. “If you come across anything like that fight again during the tutorial, rip this.” he said, “I need to see it.”

  Archie accepted the piece of paper with a serious expression, “I will.”

  “So...Ahem…What can I do to help you?” Xelgar said, clearing his throat.

  Archie smiled at the obvious topic change. “I wanted to say hi and ask where the mage Assistant teaches.”

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  “Cyric lives four buildings to your right. It’s the tower on the right, the one with yellow-tinted windows.” Xelgar said, pointing at the only cobblestone tower in the village.

  “Thanks, man,” Archie replied with a smile. “Take care,” he added, as he made his way toward the cobblestone tower.

  Xelgar quickly took out his Aetherglass and went back to reading with furrowed brows. His fingers danced over the surface of the Aetherglass, flipping through the text that sprawled across the screen, his confusion deepening. He squinted at the glowing script, reading over the alliance’s details.

  Archie knocked on the wooden door of the cobblestone tower. To his surprise, the door swung open immediately after his knock, but no one was there.

  A confused look crossed Archie’s face, but he shrugged and stepped inside. . As soon as he passed through the doorway, he felt as though he had stepped into a vat of viscous liquid.

  Archie looked around and noticed that the tower was way larger than how it was portrayed to be. The inside of the tower looked to be the same size as his new cave base, and that was ignoring the staircase leading to a second floor.

  The floors were a rich dark wood, and the walls were of a similar color. Various tapestries and paintings covered the walls, depicting various scenes of individuals bowing to a Woman with pale skin and blood-red hair.

  Intricately carved chairs and heavy wooden tables were paired on one side of the room while plush velvet cushions and leather sofas were on the other. In the center of the room however was a large fireplace with a painting of a regal man with long inky black hair, a pointed goatee, and red-slitted eyes.

  “Hello,” said a voice just beside him.

  Archie jumped away from where he heard the voice. Looking at where he previously stood was a man who looked no older than him.

  The man looked exactly like the one in the painting but without the goatee. Instead of the black cape with deep red highlights, the high-collared tunic with gold accents, black dress pants, and pristine shoes, he wore grey sweatpants and a matching grey hoodie. His hair was tied into a messy bun, and he was only wearing socks.

  “Cyric, I presume?” Archie asked, calming down from the fight the man gave him.

  “You presume correctly,” Cyric responded with a smile, walking towards the leather sofas. Once he laid on it, he released a sigh of relief and looked at Archie, “And you are?”

  “Archie. I came here because Xelgar told me you’re the Mage assistant.” Archie said, looking at the man lounging on the sofa. Identifying the man put him on edge.

  [?]

  Cyric either wore something that blocked an Identify or had a skill that did something similar.

  Cyric raised an eyebrow at Archie, “Are you going to sit down?”

  Archie made his way to the sofa opposite Cyric and sat down. “So, what do you need help with?” Cyric asked, producing a glass of water on the table closest to Archie.

  “Oh, thank you,” Archie said while taking a sip of water. “I got a couple of questions I wanted to ask; some related to my Class, Profession and generic ones.”

  “Ask away,” Cyric nodded at Archie.

  “So, what can I do to improve my mana manipulation? Are there any exercises that I can do to improve it?” Archie asked, he really wanted to improve his mana manipulation as it still felt inefficient and clunky. If he was going to build a mana-run bike, then he’d need to have pretty good control over his mana.

  “There are many ways to improve your manipulation of mana; I shall give you four different exercises that are most common within the multiverse,” Cyric said, producing four 2D boxes atop the table between both him and Archie.

  “First is, mana flow control. Practice speeding up and slowing down the flow of mana within your body.” One of the boxes had an outline of a human body with various arrows moving around. “This exercise improves how fast your mana responds to your will.”

  “Second is, mana shaping. Mold your mana into different shapes or forms using your focus.” The second box depicted a man forming a sword of mana in one hand and a shield in the other. “If you create a sword, try to make it not shatter in a single strike. If you cast a spell, make it faster, stronger, larger.”

  “Third is, mana threading. Create mana threads and make them perform various tasks.” The third box depicted a man sitting in a lotus position with many strings attached to his body, each performing a different task. “I recommend starting with two or three strings and increasing the number when you feel confident. You can increase their strength by imbuing them with more mana.”

  “Fourth is, mana meditation. Empty your mind and focus on the mana within you. Do nothing but feel it.” The last box depicted a man sitting in a lotus position atop a hill. “Meditation is perfect for feeling and understanding how mana flows within your body.”

  Archie took in everything Cyric explained, they seemed simple enough to emulate. “Thank you. I’ve done a bit of mana threading, but nothing major. Would my Nature’s Meditation

  A slight smile grew on Cryric’s face. “You are the second person within the tutorial who has an affinity meditation-related skill. The only difference is that I recommend you meditate in places of nature.”

  Archie gave Cyric a look of intrigue when he mentioned someone else having an affinity-related skill. Noticing this, Cyric chuckled and said, “I was told of their affinity in confidence. And I give you my confidence that not a living soul will hear about it from me.”

  “Thanks,” Archie nodded in understanding. “So, I was told that you taught people the Basic Elemental Weapon

  “It's pretty basic, just channel your attuned mana into your gauntlets and imagine what you wish to envelop them. For example Earth; enveloping it on your fists would give it more 'oomph' with every strike. Once you succeed in maintaining it for a minute or two you will gain the skill.” Cryric explained, his fists rising into the air as he said the word oomph.

  , Archie thought.

  “My last question pertains to my smithing profession. I was going to ask about making mana tools, but you answered that already.” Archie said with a smile, “But, now I have a different one. What would happen if I were to imbue my mana into my smithing process, would it make the metal more nature-attuned? What if I don’t want that, what would I have to do?”

  “Mana smithing is a pretty common smith ability. Thus, it’s very well explored and explained.” Cyric said, “If you want the metal to be nature-attuned, imbue your nature-attuned mana onto it. If you want normal mana imbued into your metal, imbue it with your unattuned mana.”

  , Archie gained a look of realization, understanding how important these mana manipulation exercises would be.

  Cyric noticed Archie’s understanding and continued with his explanation. “When you imbue the metal with mana, you must carefully maintain the balance of both physical and magical elements within it.”

  “Makes sense, don’t wanna teeter the tip too close to one side otherwise it’ll shatter or something like that.” Archie nodded at Cyric’s explanation. “Sorry last question, but what about spirits?”

  Cyric hesitated for a second, but said, “Unfortunately, I do not know much about spirits. My expertise is based around the elements, and not the spiritual. I apologize.”

  “Nah, there is nothing to apologize for. You’ve given me more than enough help with my questions on mana. Thank you for your help.” Archie said standing up from the sofa and offered Cyric a handshake.

  Cyric smiled, getting up from the sofa and accepting Archie’s handshake. “It’s been a pleasure.”

  Archie made his way out of the door, but before Cyric closed it, he turned around. “One last thing,” Archie said, gaining a curious look from Cyric. “What race are you? I’ve been making guesses at it this whole time and it’s either a Vampire or some sort of Fae.”

  “You guessed well,” Cyric smiled at Archie’s question. “I am a Vampire. My name is Cyric Bloodwyn.”

  “Nice to meet you Cyric Bloodwyn, I’m Archie Gracefield.” Archie smiled back.