Sitting on the bus, Luther was on his phone. The Mystic Research Forum, the one that gave him tips before he became a Mage, had a lot more information hidden behind passwords and its own network. If he wanted to learn more and get more spells, he needed to pay or join.

  Joining 'The Mystic Association' was easy. It wasn't a real guild, more like a black market. A Friendly black market. they have a history of blocking and banning their 'less-than-savory' members, which then joined together to make the {Shadow Guild}.

  They meet in real life as well as in the game world. and they change meet up locations for both when someone is kicked out.

  The game Second Chance holds 100% accountability for the players. Aliases are not allowed. And if you get banned from it, you can never start over. Forcing players all over the world to play as nice as they can. Once you have someone's name, you can be easily found.

  A whole bunch of 'Welcome' messages later, he was a member of the coolest magic black market. There was a shop thread, auction thread, question thread, a general chat thread, and a help thread,

  He posted a question |I found an Item i can't use, does anyone have a use for the [Corruption of Gregious]?|

  The cultivator that showed their technique on one of the free introdutory page would probably benefit from the [Demonic Devouring Art], mostly because is sounds similar to her [Sun- Eating Technique].

  Lei Ru from Hong Kong responed immediately when Luther asked if he could sell it to her. Thank the Admins from all over for built in translations.

  \If i wasn't a stage 5 Gold Core practitioner i would gladly buy it and use it, but i think it might be too late for me to use it. My little brother is too young to play the game, but this would be the perfect birthday present for him. I have 500 spirit stones that i can't fit in my inventory would that be enough?

  /That would actually be perfect.

  He wasn't lying either. Spirit stones from the East Server were both a type of currency and a source of power. How different, or similar, were they from monster pearls?

  Plus, he also was already the Gluttony Sin, so he didn't really need the manual taking up space in his inventory.

  [Trade complete!]

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  \Thank you so much!

  \how did you even get this on your side of the ocean? If you don't mind me asking?

  /Purifiying Monster Pearls. If your brother needs help, don't hesisate too call.

  He didn't get a response, so he went to the offical game app to confirm the trade.

  The Official game app was released before the game finished the merge. it was originally supposed to be a character Backup holder. so that if your data got corrupted you can still continue your journey. After the merge was complete, the app was still around. The admins left it and someone added the trade ability to it.

  Whether it was accidental or on purpose, the required distance to trade was gone after the merge. East and West were one game now and everything within could be traded freely for the past 2 years.

  Buying the spells [Fire Wall ], [Icicle Rain], and [Slow Curse] were no hassle.Cost him 25 silver per spell, but there was no hassle. Luther was surprised, he couldn't wait to edit these spells to fit his needs. He was, once again, excited about the game.

  Getting off the bus and entering the school to start working was weird for him. Luther took an accelerated course and finished a month and a half early. The others in the same class chose to graduate early, And he chose to get some extra credits by being a teacher's assistant.

  The day was spent collecting homework, helping when grading tests, cleaning classrooms, eating lunch in the teacher's lounge (He really likes that perk. it's so much quieter.), sitting in on a freshman math test while the teacher took a student to the Pricipal's office for carving their desk.

  On the way back home, He checked his phone to double check his spell scrolls were in his inventory. he had two hours before dinner and all of the night.

  ~~~~~~~~~~

  Converting his spells to ones he could use was becoming easier, and Luther started to wonder if there were hidden mechanics that improve learning speed for magic. Or was it the fact he was in his Tower? His domian?

  {You have perfected the spells [Wall], [Magic Rain], and [Magic Lock] 950 XP Gained!}

  Changes happened to the spells that he converted should have been obvious. Taking away the water element center made the spell drop about 100 condensed Mana Needles instead of 5 bulky icicles.

  [Magic Lock] without the dark element from [Slow Curse] froze the body for about ten minutes and the character's Mana for 30 minutes. Which was deadly for a Mage.

  "Now with that taken care of, I have one more thing to do." He went up to the training room and dumped all 500 spirit stones on the ground. He was about to use his [Mana Steal] but decided to try some thing in addition to it.

  He called up both Mana Circles. And once he was balanced he called out '[Mana Steal]!"

  {Alert! Mana and Other are synchronized and working together! [Mana Steal] has Gained★!}

  Purple Mana Teeth grew from the floor and swallowed the Spirit Stones in one gulp.

  The new energy was milky white and floated between his two circles. Using his circles he tried to pull apart this new energy. Instead, Pure Mana and Green Other were pulled out of the white energy. The white Energy became brighter and less murky until it was pure white. The circles became larger as the white cloud became smaller and more condensed.

  { [SoulSpirit Energy] purified and condensed!}

  { [Pure Mana] and [Other Mana] no longer want to escape each other! They now have a compatible bridge and can work together without issue!}

  { Too many differing Energy stats! 'Mana' stat changed to 'Energy' stat }

  The first thing Luther noticed was that SoulSpirit Energy was obtained, not Mana. Next was that it was purified and condensed, like a dantian from the East. Except that he was a Mage and shouldn't be able to cultivate. Putting that on the back burner for now.

  His Mage class didn't gain a star, so this didn't count as a promotion.

  His notifications said that these two opposing Mana Types now are no longer opposing. He made them work together using a skill. What would happen, now that they are willing to work together?

  Using [Mana Steal] now, a cloud of black mist poured out of his palm anda set of sharp violet teeth grew out of it.

  {Alert! [Mana Steal★★★★] is reacting to Gluttony trait! [Mana Steal★★★★ ] has become [Energy Devour★]!}

  He turned off the skill and opened his Spellcraft window. He was about to start dissecting the [Greater Arrow] spell when his dad called him for dinner.

  He logged out before he could read a new notification.

  {Your soul has gotten a little stronger.}