"High level? Is that why it filled all of my mana instantly?" Finn asked.

  "Exactly. But for someo my level, one high-level potion wouldn’t even e close to filling my mana pool. Mages have it worse because their Wisdom is their primary attribute," Yukha replied, his toter-of-fact. "But higher Wisdom also means faster mana regeion, just like how stitution works for health recovery. Plus, there are always items and equipment to help boost mana regeion."

  "If that was a high-level potion, though, wasn’t it expensive?" Finn asked.

  "Don’t worry about it," Yukha said with a small wave of his hand. "I’ve amassed plenty of Valor Points over the years. A few high-level mana potions are hardly a dent in my reserves."

  Finn frowned, guilt flickering across his face. "Still, I feel bad about using your points. I wouldn’t be able to afford anything close to that right now with the little I have."

  "Then sider it a loan," Yukha said with a knowing smile. "When you’re strong enough to take down multiple corrupted elementals a day, earning Valor Points will be easy for you. Paying me back will be the least of your s. Deal?"

  Fiated, then nodded. "Deal."

  A thought struck him, and he added with a wry smile, "But what if I die before I pay you back?"

  "Impossible," Yukha replied without missing a beat. His gaze was firm, his voiwavering. "Because I won’t let that happen."

  The sheer vi in Yukha's words caught Finn off guard, sileng him for a moment. "That’s… reassuring," he finally said, smiling genuinely.

  Turning his attention back to his status box, Finn noticed something unusual. His Fire Affinity had increased by a point. He sed the rest of his stats to be sure and found more ges.

  Elemental Affinities:

  Stone - 30

  Water - 30

  Fire - 56

  Wind - 30

  Free Points - 0

  His attributes had shifted as well. Both Perception and Wisdom had gone up by a point.

  Attributes:

  stitution - 5

  Strength - 5

  Perception - 9

  Wisdom - 13

  Free Points - 0

  Blinking, Finn realized his total mana had risen to 52 from 50, firming the Wisdom boost. He shared his discovery with Yukha, expeg surprise, but Yukha merely nodded.

  "That makes sense," Yukha said. "Remember what I told you? The system quantifies your physical and elemental growth into numbers so you track it. When you summoned and maniputed fire until you drained your mana, your body naturally adapted and grew strohe system reflects that improvement."

  "So… whenever I get free points to assign at level-ups, those e from the system. But when my stats improve like this, it’s purely my own effort?"

  "Exactly," Yukha said.

  Finn's mind raced with possibilities. "So if I train my body, like exerg, would that increase my Strength? What about stitution?"

  Yukha nodded. "Strength, yes. Physical exertion will improve it naturally—I’ve seen it happen firsthand. And you should. Mages or not, a little musever hurts." He paused, his gaze flickering over Finn's thin frame. "Frankly, you could use it."

  Finn winced. "What about stitution?"

  "That’s harder. stitution improves through repeated damage and healing. But I wouldn’t reend it. You’re tile right now. A single corrupted elemental could kill you in just a few hits. For now, focus on increasing your Wisdom, Perception, and maybe a bit of Strength."

  "Alright. How do we go about that?"

  "We’ll start once we're iower," Yukha said. "You need bat experience as much as stat growth. Duri periods, we’ll train your Strength with light exercises—nothing too taxing. During fights, you’ll use your Fire abilities to take down corrupted elementals, which will help build both Wisdom and Perception. That way, we train your stats and your instincts at the same time."

  "Sounds like a pn," Finn said, feeling a spark of determination.

  "So, do we head to the Tower now? Are you done preparing?"

  "Not quite," Yukha replied. "Before we go, I o know how profit you are with your other elements. Have you ever used them before?"

  Finn shook his head. "Nope. Fire is the only one I’ve practiced with."

  "Not ideal," Yukha murmured. "But the Gods did grant you points iher elements. Maybe that’ll help."

  "Let us see then. Try trolling Stone first," Yukha suggested.

  He crouched doeeled away the grass beh them, revealing a patch of brown soil.

  "Try lifting this soil—move it around like you did with the fire earlier."

  So soil ts as Stone? Calling it Earth would’ve been way easier, but I guess that's only called that from my p, I just o get used to it.

  Finn focused och of soil, expeg to feel the same e he had when trolling fire. A sed passed. Nothing happened.

  Weird.

  He stepped closer, narrowing his focus and trying harder. Finally, he felt something—a faint, murky e, as if an invisible fog was blog his way. It reminded him of the dise he’d felt with fire ba Earth, before the e had "clicked."

  After a moment, small, scattered bits of soil lifted from the ground, not clumped but loose and unsteady. He tried to trol them, but they scattered in random dires, ign his i like a character disobeying a broken troller.

  Finn sighed and gave up, letting the bits of soil fall. They were carried away by the breeze moments ter.

  When he g his mana, his jaw dropped. Nearly half of it was gone—far more than he’d spent trolling fire.

  An effect of lower affinity, maybe?

  "Well, that athetic," Finn said, half-ughing. "It felt like the soil didn't like me."

  Yukha raised an eyebrow. "Harsh, but... I’ll lean treeing."

  "Even with just 30 Affinity for Stone, you should’ve been able to form a fist-sized clump and move it. Something’s nht."

  "Maybe it’s because it’s my first time?" Finn offered weakly.

  "Perhaps. But even for a first attempt, that was... underwhelming." Yukha didn’t sugarcoat his words.

  He raised his hand, palm open. "Let’s move on. Try trolling Wind this time. Focus on the air around you, then pick a single spot. Gather the wind there and de. Once you’ve grasped it, send it to my palm. If dht, you should be able to give me a small cut at this distance."

  "Alright, I’ll try." Finn stretched his arm out, hoping for better results this time.

  He focused on the space above his palm. The wind brushed against his skin, cool and damp from the sooling there. He trated, and this time the e came faster—perhaps because he could physically feel the element.

  Small thread-like strands of air danced across his palm. He tried to dehem, drawing them clether to form something solid, something sharp. But once again, that invisible fog crept in, muddying the e.

  Gritting his teeth, he forced his way through it. Slowly, the strands drew closer. He had no idea what shape they’d taken, but he hoped it was enough.

  He uhe gathered wind toward Yukha, mimig a throwing motion food measure.

  A feard seds passed. Yukha tilted his head. "Was that straion y to trol the wind toward me?"

  Finn groaned. "You don’t have to embarrass me even more than I’ve already done myself."

  "My apologies. I didn’t mean to," Yukha said early. "But... I felt nothing. Not even a tickle. Perhaps the skin on my palm has grown too thick?"

  There was no sarcasm in his tone, but Finn still winced. He doesn’t mean it badly, but it still hurts.

  Why was this so difficult? With fire, everything had felt so smooth, so natural. He didn’t even have to move; his hands had stayed in his pockets as he trolled that basketball-sized fme with ease. But Stone and Wind... they felt distant.

  Yukha, sensing his frustration, smiled faintly. "Let us try one more element—Water," he said, his voice tinged with expectation.

  Water. Yukha’s element. I really hope I don’t disappoint him this time.

  Yukha raised his arm, and a fsk appeared out of thin air, materializing in his massive hand. Was the fsk small, or were his hands just that big?

  "Did that e from your Iory?" Finn asked.

  "Yes. I’m surprised you already know. Have you used yours yet?" Yukha replied.

  "Not yet—just a lucky guess," Finn said, shrugging.

  Aem materialized in Yukha’s other hand. This time, it was a battered bowl, its surface marred with scratches. Yukha crouched, set the bowl on the ground, and poured water into it from the fsk until it was half-full. Finn could guess where this was going, but one question still nagged him.

  "Why bother with water from another source? ’t you just summon it for me since you're a natural?"

  Yukha shook his head. "It doesn’t work that way. You ot trol elements summoned by someone else. Elemental manipution only works with your own power or with natural elements already present around you."

  Finn nodded slowly, the expnation sinking in.

  "Now," Yukha said, gesturing to the bowl, "try scooping up the water with your mind. Form it into any shape you want—a sphere is easiest. Water is softer than stone and more visible than wind. It’s not as light as fire, but you may find it easier to trol thahers."

  "Alright," Finn said, exhaling deeply.

  "Take this first," Yukha added.

  "Take what?" Finn asked, frowning.

  Before Yukha answered, a box popped up in Finn’s vision:

  ACCEPT ITEM FROM YUKHA?

  Mana Potion [High] x1

  You even do that? Finn thought, amazed. He mentally agreed, and the box vanished, repced by another:

  ITEM RECEIVED.

  As the notification closed, Finn g his iory. The small square beled Iory now had a small red ‘1’ in the er. Curious, he ope.

  Rows of empty slots appeared, except for three at the top left. The first tained a red stohe teleportation stone Halgon had given them for the first realm of the tower. The sed held a blue stohe failsafe that would send them home at the cost of losing everything. The third was the mana potion Yukha had just handed over.

  "You don’t o take the potion out to use it," Yukha expined, interrupting Finn’s iion. "Just think about ing it, and it will activate. That’s especially useful in battle. The only downside is you miss out on the refreshing taste."

  "That’s definitely a drawback," Finn said.

  Following Yukha’s instrus, he mentally ed the potion. Warmth surged through him as his depleted mana reserves filled to the brim. He felt reinvigorated, but his ill tingled with anticipation.

  Alright, third time’s the charm. Let’s do this.

  Turning his focus to the bowl, Finn honed in oill surface of the water. Almost immediately, the liquid began to ripple, then bubble as if boiling. Droplets started to rise, h in midair, but he couldn’t get them to clump together. Instead, they scattered in all dires, ign his attempts to guide them.

  Finn’s frustration mounted as he tried again and again to trol the water, but the droplets refused to obey, zigzagging away from his mental ands.

  "Well, it seems like water hates me too," Finn muttered, releasing his focus. The water dropped bato the bowl with a soft plop, settling once more.

  "Don't say that, Finn," Yukha said. "The elements do not hate, especially not water. It has aided me tless times in the past. Perhaps you simply need more practice than most."

  Yukha’s optimism was iious, and it eased some of Finn’s tension. Still, despite his repeated failures, he didn’t feel defeated.

  So what if I’m bad at water, wind, and stone?

  Sure, his e to the other elements might be weak, but fire? Fire was his strength. Fire didn’t need coaxing or ving—it roared to life with just a thought.

  That’s right. Fire and I get along just fine.

  Finn’s lips curled into a determined smile. I love fire, and fire loves me back.