Both Basic Weapon Handling and Foundation of Martial Movement were somewhat interesting to read. Both of them covered things we were pretty much already doing.

  For example, the Basic Weapon Handling book quite literally focused on how to hold a few common melee weapons. Of course, we have all been doing that already for over a month now, so if that was all there was to it then the book would’ve been a waste of money.

  Thankfully that wasn’t the case.

  The book described many different ways in which to hold each of the weapons it discussed based on what it was you were trying to accomplish with it. There was a different way to hold the spear when trying to parry versus a simple block.

  Striking forward or trying an overhead slash.

  Again, these were things I was kinda sorta doing already, but I didn’t focus on any of that. I was simply trying to defeat the enemy before me. There wasn’t much technique involved beyond the common sense that came with knowing what to do with a spear, a sword, or even a dagger, for example.

  Even if there wasn’t any common sense involved, I’ve read enough books and watched enough anime to get a general gist of how it all worked together.

  This book would help firm up what I knew already and make a nice foundation to grow and improve from.

  The Martial Movement book was much of the same. We were doing some of it already just through natural movements when fighting. But like how there were better positions to place your hands when holding a spear and trying to parry a strike, there were also optimal positions to place your feet as well.

  This book touched on a bunch of different common scenarios that could arise in most battles and the correct positions the user’s feet should be in based on a multitude of things.

  Neither book provided any sort of fighting technique or some grand new ability that would cause me or anyone else to improve by leaps and bounds, but having a proper foundation to build from was very important.

  I’d rather have a one-story house that will stand firm in the face of any storm than some towering mansion that will fall at the first sign of trouble.

  Or something like that.

  Anyway, then came the book on Mana Control Techniques.

  The most interesting book of the three.

  This book was quite literally the way to the type of abilities I wanted to possess in the future. I’m sure as I grew stronger and unlocked better and more powerful skills, there will come a day when one of them could cause immense destruction.

  But unless the higher levels provided more skill slots, then having only three abilities would simply not do well for what I wanted. Which made me think about the whole mana thing. I refused to believe that the mana stat, and the whole membrane thing I got for my second Trait, was only there to power my three skills.

  It didn’t make sense.

  If there was mana coursing through my body, then I should be able to use it to do things. I really do think skills are things we could do on our own if we understood mana properly, but instead, the system handles it for us.

  I compared it to a website, for example.

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  When I clicked the ‘add to cart’ button on a shopping website, I expected the item I clicked to appear in my cart and even to see a little +1 next to the cart symbol. But it wasn’t magic that made that happen.

  Some developer had to use a combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to make my little ‘add to cart’ button a reality.

  What I’m trying to say here is that in the case of skills, the system was the developer. I ‘clicked’ a skill, then the system would handle the backend stuff. Gathering the necessary mana, putting it into the right form, water for example, and then adding the necessary outputs to it. Like extending a veil of water into a blade, for Piercing Tide.

  I think I can do that process on my own, and this book is helping me with that.

  The book spoke about meditating and sensing the ambient mana in the air. Now that Earth was integrated, mana existed all around us. I liked to think of it like an element of sorts. Kinda like oxygen. We breathed it in every day, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen oxygen, except from digital images in textbooks.

  Once someone could sense the mana in the air, the book moved on to actually trying to guide that mana.

  Honestly, I was a long way off from guiding any external mana.

  Sensing it was easier than I thought, because I could feel it move within me whenever I used a skill, so I just tried to look for that same feeling. And the best way I could explain it externally was that it felt like heavy air.

  I myself didn’t even know if that made sense really, but for some reason, that was how I thought about it. Heavy air.

  Internally though… it didn’t feel exactly like that.

  The feeling of heavy air was still there, but there was also something else. Something that reminded me of water.

  Pretty sure it had something to do with that second Trait, but I’m sure I’ll understand that better with time.

  For now, while sensing mana was not a problem and commanding the world to bend to my whims was still a long way off for me, I could still move the mana that existed within my body.

  I had a natural command over it since it was within me, but I was still not able to use it to do anything of substance. All I could do was move it around for now.

  And after observing the mages in the family, I realized classes had a bigger impact than I thought.

  Aunt Abigail, for example, could already form little, tiny flames without the use of any skill. Just by controlling her mana and willing it in a shape or form, she could do that. I tried to ask her for some advice, but all I got was that she asked it to.

  Like what does that even mean?

  I tried to do the same thing, and it didn’t work at all.

  Either way, I could move it, which is progress, so I’ll just have to keep at it.

  Speaking of classes, there was a book on that as well, and the information it provided was interesting. The first class in particular was mostly a foundation setter of sorts. It would be how one’s journey would begin.

  The basic classes the system provided were nothing but empty templates waiting for the person to add various inputs to the template.

  Those inputs would be the Traits that were selected, the skills selected, and even where you allocated your stat points. All of it played a massive role in how your template, or initial class, was shaped for the future.

  Heartborne classes were much the same, except it was like having a template that already had a few pre-filled values instead of being completely blank.

  They were the reflection of a person in the eyes of the system. So kinda like what we thought they were when they first appeared.

  But although they had those pre-filled inputs, they too were still templates at the end of the day.

  Which brings me to the book on Grades.

  Something that wasn’t a new concept to me and was present in many books, was the grading system.

  It went as follows: F, E, D, C, B, A, and finally S.

  There was no actual information about the higher Grades except for the order that they followed, but that was enough for me. Just to confirm that they were present. The thing that was most important was learning that the template classes we selected at the F Grade would only truly blossom at the E Grade.

  We would get to choose another Class, but it would only be an evolved version of our current class.

  And that evolution would be based on all the inputs we placed into our class.

  What I didn’t know is if there would be multiple classes to choose from, or if we would only get one option.

  Either way, I was looking forward to it.

  Though that wasn’t the only thing the book mentioned.

  It also talked about rarities, and just like the F Grade, Rooted was the lowest of them all.

  Rooted, Unbound, Tempered, Ascendant, Transcendent, Exalted, Mythborn.

  Seven different rarities that also matched the seven different Grades. I’m not sure if reaching E Grade automatically upgraded my skills and Traits to the Unbound rarity, but what if I already had Unbound skills and Traits? What would that mean for my Class evolution at the E Grade?

  Wouldn’t that be something special?