"Should I take a mana potion now?" Finn asked as they walked.

  "Not yet," Yukha replied. "Save it for when we’re forced to fight. Allowing your mana tee naturally will gradually enhance your Wisdom attribute, whi turn expands your mana pool."

  "That makes sense," Finn said, nodding in agreement.

  "I’ll teach you a teique for health and mana regeion ter," Yukha said as they walked.

  "Oh, that reminds me," he tinued. "I fot to mention something earlier. Fighting those monsters distracted me."

  Yukha stopped and turo face Finn. "You still have some ma, right?"

  "Yeah," Finn said. "I had a little left after the fight ended, and it’s been regeing slowly."

  "The more rexed you are, the faster it will regee. It’s still a slow process, but it’s better than nothing," Yukha expined. "Now, summon a small fme. About the size of a pebble. Keep the heat low—just enough to burn, but not too intense."

  Finn nodded and summoned a tiny fme in front of him, feeding it just enough mana to keep it red without fring inte like the stronger fmes he’d used against the blobs’ cores.

  "Good. Now make it hover around your body," Yukha instructed.

  Finn focused, guiding the fme in a slow, rotating path around himself. He was surprised by how much easier it was to trol pared to before. The e felt stronger, more natural, even though the fme’s size was minimal.

  His thoughts briefly drifted back to the rger fme he’d summoned earlier. While it had been easier to trol, it was harder to move. In trast, the smaller fme moved fluidly but demanded more focus to keep stable.

  "Now, stantly ge its speed," Yukha said. "Make it faster, then slower. Keep it moving. Be aware of its prese all times, whether you’re rexing or in battle. Never let it extinguish. This exercise will strengthen your trol and e to the element."

  "So, I should keep it burning indefinitely?" Finn asked.

  "Yes," Yukha firmed. "At that size and iy, it’ll barely e any mana. As your mana pool grows, you increase the heat, expand the fme, or even summon multiple fmes."

  Finn trated on the small fme orbiting him like a wisp, adjusting its speed as they walked. It felt oddly satisfying, like a calmi purposeful exercise.

  "I like this. It’s simple and kind of fun," Finn said.

  "It’s a great exercise," Yukha agreed. "I lear from someone in my old vilge—a master water specialist. It’s easy now, but once your attention is divided in bat, it’ll be much harder to maintain."

  Finn chuckled. "By the way, I didn’t know you could do all that—freezing such a rge body of water and trolling multiple ice shards at ohat was incredible."

  Yukha smirked. "Freezing water is a basic skill for a water specialist. Just like you trol your fme’s temperature, I trol water's. What? Did you uimate me?"

  "No, not at all. It was just shog to see," Finn replied.

  "At my level, feats like that are expected," Yukha said. "It takes a lot of training and leveling up. Focus on the exercise I taught you, and soon you’ll be capable of simir feats—or even surpassing me someday."

  Yukha’s words filled Finn with encement. When he’d first received the system, his weak stats had been a blow to his fidence. But after witnessing the potential of his fmes in battle and seeing Yukha’s mastery, a spark of hope ignited within him. His heart raced with excitement for what the future might hold.

  "That shed," Yukha said suddenly, pointing ahead. "It looks familiar. Its spot on the map has a unique bel and color."

  Finn gnced where Yukha was looking and saw it—a pin wooden shed with a small benside. Cheg his map, he noticed a blue square with the letter "T" i, marked by a small lock i.

  "What’s that?" Finn asked.

  "It’s a teleport point," Yukha expined. "We had simir ones outside the Tower. You teleport there as long as you’re not in bat and there are no enemies nearby."

  "Let’s rest there," Yukha tinued. "Corrupted elementals are uo approach."

  They headed to the shed and sat on the bench. Fi a wave of relief wash over him as he finally allowed himself to rex, the tiny fme still cirg him like a loyal pet.

  Having a proper pce to sit down was a wele relief after all the walking and running.

  A prompt appeared in front of him:

  REGISTER TELEPORT POINT [DREADMERE THICKET]?

  Fially firmed, and the i on his map unlocked, with the lock i vanishing.

  Not only that, but a rge area of fog around them dissipated instantly.

  Sistering at these teleport points also clears the surrounding area?

  QUEST UNLOCKED

  Quest #1: Unlock all teleport points in the first realm.

  Teleport points unlocked: 1/4

  Rewards: 20000 VP

  A quest? So there are four teleport points in the first realm. This doesn’t seem too difficult, and the reward is nothing to scoff at. I guess that’s the goal for now.

  “You got the same quest?” Finn asked, turning to Yukha.

  “The one about unlog the teleport points?” Yukha replied. “Judging by the size of the map, it shouldn’t be too hard. Besides, activating all of them would make traveling a lot easier for us.”

  “Agreed,” Finn said.

  As he examihe map again, something arming caught his eye. From the blue circur area—the ke they had just passed—a rge red dot had appeared in the middle.

  “There’s something new on the map,” he said.

  Yukha opened his o, sing it before his eyes widened slightly.

  “So that’s what that strange feeling was when we ran across the ke,” he muttered. “It seems like something was lurkih it.”

  This feels like a boss fight location in a game.

  “I have a theory,” Finn said. “It’s probably a corrupted elemental—one far strohan any we’ve entered so far.”

  “That makes sense,” Yukha replied. “sidering the eerie sensation I got back there, the fact that it’s near corrupted water elemental territory, and its positiht in the ter of the ke… there’s a high ce it’s a high-level corrupted water elemental.”

  “Agreed,” Finn said.

  “And sis element is your natural weakness, we should probably avoid it for now,” Yukha added. “It’s best to leave it for st—at least until you’ve gotten stronger.”

  “I won’t argue with that,” Finn said. “Fire is weak to water, but if the fire is strong enough, it evaporate water pletely. That said… if this thing is way stroha’ll probably evaporate me first. So yeah, I’m fih leaving it alone for now. Let’s explore the other areas first."

  "Anyway, we should rest here for a bit," Yukha said, settling onto the bench. "Think about the problems we faced earlier and discuss what to do ."

  "But first—food."

  Yukha summoned water, shaping it into a thick, regur sb. With a flick of his hand, it froze into a solid block of ice, f a makeshift table. The icy surface radiated a refreshing chill, soothing their tired bodies.

  Water is really ve. If I tried to make something like that with fire, it’d probably burn anythi on top of it.

  Yukha pulled out a thick cloth and spread it over the ice. "'t have it cooling down our food unnecessarily."

  "Wait, food? Do you have some stored in your iory?" Finn asked.

  "No, but we buy it from the shop," Yukha replied, sitting back with a grin. "It’s cheap, hot, and delicious. Way better than carrying stale rations."

  Curious, Finn opehe shop. He vaguely recalled Halgoioning something about food earlier but hadn’t had time to explore it. It was easy enough to locate.

  Scrolling through the food category, he picked his favorite: Haizza and a steaming cup of coffee. The smell made his mouth water as soon as the items materialized. The total came to 47 VP—not too bad, though he wasn’t sure how that pared to real-world prices.

  "That’s... unique-looking food," Yukha said, leaning closer. "What is it called?"

  "It’s pizza. Specifically, Hawaiian," Finn replied. "Want to try a slice?"

  "If you don’t mind."

  Yukha grabbed a slice, which looked hiriously small in his rge hand, and devoured it in a sie. He chewed thoughtfully, his expression serious as if analyzing the fvor was a critical mission. After swallowing, he finally spoke:

  "It has a... uaste. Sweet and salty, with a chewy texture. Is that dough underh?" He shook his head. "It’s not to my taste."

  "Suit yourself," Finn said with a shrug. "What about this?" He slid over his cup of coffee.

  Yukha gulped it down in one go. His eyes widened, practically sparkling.

  "This... this is delicious!" he excimed. "What is it called?"

  "Coffee," Finn replied, amused. "At least you have good taste in drinks."

  "Cof-fee," Yukha repeated, sav the word.

  Without hesitation, he bought ten more cups from the shop, ying them out oable like a feast.

  I hope orachs are built different. I ’t have him getting the runs during a fight.

  Finn grabbed another slice of pizza, but his eyes drifted to the faint blue mark on his palm. It was barely glowing now—so dim he couldn’t tell if it was active or not. Curious but too hungry to dwell on it, he brushed the thought aside and focused oing.

  Following Yukha’s earlier advice, Finn directed the pebble-sized fme to hover above his head. He adjusted its height to avoid singing his hair, letting it rotate steadily as he devoured two family-sized pizzas and finished his coffee. His appetite seemed rger than usual.

  Maybe leveling up increases hunger?

  When he finally felt full, Finn opened his system meement bubbling within him. He’d killed so many monsters earlier—surely his levels had increased.

  His heart raced as he g his stats:

  Name: Finn Hayes

  Level: 1 → 7

  Six levels! Those blobs must’ve dohe job. He likely got some experience from the tentacles too, though the mist had obscured the aftermath of his fireball. Leveling would probably slow down ter, but for now, he was thrilled.

  , he checked his elemental affinities:

  Elemental Affinities:

  Stone - 0

  Water - X

  Fire - 146 → 157

  Wind - 0

  Free Points - 12

  His Fire affinity had increased by 11 points instead of the expected 6 from the Fire God's blessing. Could it be from pushing his fire and mana to the limit during the battle?

  Without hesitation, Finn allocated all his free points to the Fire affinity, raising it to 169. He hoped the increase would make a noticeable differehe ime he used it in battle.

  Fire had proven to be incredibly effective so far, even against water-based monsters—something he hadn’t expected. Most of the creatures he’d faced, like the blobs, were rgely posed of water. The tentacles were simir; their translut heads were almost certainly water-based, with their cores likely hidden iher than dangling ientacles.

  If his fmes were hot enough to evaporate water, then the solution was simple: make them hotter. Stronger.

  He hadn’t yet entered corrupted elementals of other elements, but he’d deal with them wheime came.

  Stone, Wind—I'll find a way to burn them.

  Shifting focus, Finn opened his Attributes tab:

  Attributes:

  stitution - 5

  Strength - 5 → 7

  Perception - 9 → 13

  Wisdom - 13 → 25

  Free Points - 12

  He bli the numbers. Even his Strength had increased—only by two points, but still. Probably from all the running he’d done.

  His Perception and Wisdom increases were less surprising. The former was likely due to the precision he’d o mahe fmes during the fight, while the tter...

  That must’ve been from nearly draining my mana again aing it regee naturally.

  Yukha had insisted it was crucial to do. Not to mention, his Mage css provided a +1 bonus to Wisdom with every level-up.

  Without hesitation, he allocated his newly gained free points—8 to Wisdom and 4 to Perception.

  , his eyes nded on his skill.

  Fireball: still level 1.

  Wait. Did I fet to use it during the fight?

  He groaned internally. He’d been so absorbed in trolling his natural fmes that he’d pletely fotten to test the skill he’d spent valor points on.

  Looking at its stats now, though, he felt flicted. The mana cost was absurdly high pared to summoning fmes naturally—on top of that, it drained 1 mana per sed while active.

  It would’ve been a liability. If he’d used it, his mana would’ve drained faster, and he’d have had to burn through a mana potion unnecessarily.

  Finn g the pebble-sized fme h over his hand.

  If this were the Fireball skill, it’d be eating my mana every sed.

  Speaking of liabilities, his gaze shifted to the dim blue mark on his palm.

  Wait a sed.

  When it had glowed earlier, hadn’t there been... something else?

  That’s right. Something popped up alongside the pain.

  His heart raced as the memory returned. How could he have fotten? The adrenaline from the fight must have clouded his thoughts. Quickly, he scrolled through his system, stopping at his Blessings:

  Blessings:

  [Universal Language]

  [Stone God's Blessing #425]

  [Wind God's Curse #2]

  [Fire God's Blessing #1]

  [Water God's Blessing #2]

  There it was at the bottom. The blessing that had appeared before the swarm of monsters desded on them. Fied it, bringing up the description:

  [Water God's Blessing #2]

  The bearer of the Water God's Mark will inexplicably draw the attention of corrupted water elementals, pelling these creatures to relentlessly seek out and target the marked individual. In addition, this bearer will no longer be able to use the power of water.

  amon23