episode_0005

I showed my badge to the guard at the entrance to the mountain and entered.

I searched for herbs while comparing them to the picture on the paper I was holding.

There were three types of herbs.

Planetia dew grass, moonlight moss, and Puan sand grass.

It’s definitely a pretty common herb, I quickly discovered one.

The difficulty level was not that high for finding herbs to make elixir.

“Moonlight Moss… ….”

The problem is that this probably isn’t all there is to making elixirs.

Even if all the herbs needed to make the elixir were needed, it’s unlikely they would have written them all down.

“An uneasy old man.”

Leon saw the old man’s anxious expression.

But he didn’t show it.

Even though I felt uneasy, I didn’t have the strength to check it, and there was no one I could ask for help right now.

Leon, who had been gathering herbs for three hours, came down from the mountain as it began to get dark.

I thought I could finish it today since I only had a few herbs that I requested, but the roots of the herbs I dug up for the first time were damaged, so I ended up deciding to come back tomorrow.

After returning to the dorm, I washed up, had a quick bite to eat, and trained until noon to receive the quest reward.

▶ You have obtained the essence of play (F-).

The essence of play?

It wasn’t easy to guess just by hearing the name, but I was able to get a rough idea of the value from the grade written in parentheses.

A very small yellow bead fell onto his hand.

He had no intention of eating it right away.

I was planning to stockpile it up in advance to eat after awakening Mana.

The next day, Leon finished his daily routine in the same manner and completed all the quotas the old man had requested.

And the day ends with a draw.

▶ You have acquired the F-grade elixir recipe (E).

“Kiya!”

Leon felt a thrill when the reward he had been hoping for actually came.

Unlike the attribute body, a fairly high-grade reward appeared quickly.

Well, it’s probably luck.

‘It was definitely a good idea to change the reward.’

It is true that the importance of attributes is overwhelmingly high.

But when I got caught up in the high attributes, I couldn’t figure out how much time I should spend on them.

Besides, there is no need to throw away the elixir even if it floats low.

And just in case you don’t know.

Something like an elixir recipe might pop up.

‘How about growing herbs in a real jewel space?’

He entered the jewel space carrying the extra herbs he had dug up.

I noticed that I could enter the jewel space and take things with me, since I was still wearing the clothes I was wearing.

An hour here is a minute in reality.

In other words, if one minute passes in reality, one hour passes here… … .

If this works as expected, it will be easy to grow herbs.

The fact that time flies when growing herbs was a perfect condition.

In addition, there is an overwhelming concentration of mana in the jewel.

It was only natural that the herbs used to make elixirs would grow better in places rich in mana.

Although it may take a long time to establish the initial foundation, once it becomes somewhat stable, the elixir can be copied.

‘Let’s experiment later to see if time still passes when I step out of the jewel.’

Leon couldn’t plant the herbs right away.

In order to create space in this dense forest to plant medicinal herbs, trees had to be cut down and the ground had to be compacted.

First, he left the herb wrapped in cloth in its place and came out of the treasure chest.

And then he unfolded the scroll of the F-grade elixir recipe he had received in advance.

‘Planetia Dewdrop… … .’

This overlapped with the herbs the old man had requested.

But that’s not all, the other herbs didn’t overlap.

‘Is the herb the old man trying to make something different?’

There weren’t many herbs needed to make a Grade F potion.

‘Planetia dewdrop, teardrop mushroom, petal of rain flower, misty dew.’

We have checked the detailed pictures, exact quantity, and even the manufacturing process.

Most of the materials needed were water-related.

‘Water is a common element that can be found everywhere, so there’s nothing strange about it.’

The problem is the manufacturing process.

Timing of boiling the roots, boiling the petals, mixing them with dew, etc.

Skills that could not be learned simply through reading were not a problem once acquired through a few attempts.

‘Elixir making magic.’

Some magic was needed for this.

It is said that the lowest level elixir can be made with any manufacturing magic, but the problem is that the magic itself is difficult to obtain.

A thought that comes to mind at that moment.

‘Magic Library!’

There was no way that there wouldn’t be manufacturing magic in that vast magic library.

No matter how old-fashioned the magic may be, isn’t magic still magic?

The lowest level elixirs were said to be made without any manufacturing magic.

Leon returned to the dormitory and closed his eyes, deciding to bring the herbs tomorrow and immediately search the magic library.

*****

“You really got them all in two days. Wasn’t it hard to dig them up?”

“I failed a few times, but I quickly got the hang of it.”

“Good job. Then read it as much as you want. Of course, you have to pay to copy or borrow it.”

The old man had a warm smile on his lips, but Leon no longer believed it.

The old man went into the room, and Leon, left alone, went straight to wandering around the magic library on the first floor.

‘Elixir making magic… … Elixir making… … .’

Since I hadn’t yet realized mana, I didn’t need any other magic.

He did not use the book search artifact placed at the entrance to the library.

This was recorded.

I decided to be careful in case an old man came looking for me.

Was it worth wandering around for about 30 minutes?

Leon soon stopped walking in front of a bookshelf.

‘Brem’s Elixir Manufacturing Magic (Part 2).’

I didn’t know how old-fashioned Brem magic was.

But in the end, what mattered was that it was there.

Leon remembered the location of this book.

The moment I realized Mana, I planned to learn it right away.

And Leon, who returned to his seat, once again devoted himself to practicing mana cognition.

Now it was really time to awaken Mana.

****

Leon took advantage of the one day off he had once a week and decided to train hard.

I spent five days working and wasted no time without even using the treasure room.

All elixir rewards for the five days were one-star elixirs.

The essence of play (F-) X 2

Essence of Oak (F-) X 1

Goblin Essence (F-) X 2

At first I thought that killing monsters would drop elixirs, but then I realized that they were just named after them.

It was the lowest level elixir, so it was simply named after a lowest level monster.

I thought I would have to try them to find out what the differences were.

Anyway, the total time of the jewels collected was 101 hours.

Leon planned to use this time all in one day.

If I got too sleepy and my concentration wavered, I planned to go outside for a bit to sleep and then go back into the jewel space.

It didn’t matter how much time was spent in the jewel.

Even if you spend all 101 hours, in reality only 101 minutes have passed.

The key was to allocate appropriate time to rest to relieve physical fatigue.

As soon as Leon woke up, he turned down his roommates’ offer to go out and play together and went straight to a secluded place and entered the orb.

A space densely filled with trees.

Leon sat down in the small space between the trees.

Close your eyes and breathe.

Inhale. Breathe to calm your mind.

Exhale. A breath that empties the old.

Inhale again. Breathe in newness.

Exhale again. Breath that circulates newness into newness.

One hour… two hours… … The passage of time that felt like it was passing by becomes distant.

The consciousness that was focused on chasing the weak mana in reality was greeted by the mana that filled the space and rushed towards it as if it was going to devour it.

Emission and absorption reach a state of nothingness.

Before I knew it, an invisible energy began to quickly swirl around my body at a speed that made it impossible to tell what was coming in and what was going out.

This is not just air, it is mana.

The fullness that fills the body is the source of wisdom.

The mysterious order of nature.

A wave of energy that resonates with our will.

Soon Leon felt as if something was whispering to him.

Trying to communicate.

Could this be a message of wisdom from Mana?

Or is it a connection to the source?

Before I knew it, I felt a fullness swirling around my body.

It was different from the fullness I had felt before.

I felt the fullness of ‘Mana’.

My forehead started to tingle, and then suddenly I felt like I heard a cracking sound.

Leon opened his eyes with a start.

A core the size of a bean wiggles in the direction of the iris.

“Haa… … .”

Mana spread from his mouth like breath.

He saw the flow.

“Huh, haha… hahahaha!”

Awakened Mana.

Leon’s face was filled with ecstasy at the splendid grains that filled the world.

It’s only now that I’ve truly realized how ridiculously dense the mana concentration here is.

An ordinary child who lived without knowing what mana was can now see the flow of mana.

Without the guidance and teachings of any wizard.

Self-study!

Of course, it would have been a shame to miss out on the help of a growth assistant.

—————————————————- —

[Growth Helper]

-information

▶ Name: Leon

▶ Level: Apprentice Level 1

▶ Magic Power: E-

▶ Attribute constitution: Three elements (water, wind, earth)

-General Quests

▶ Mana Cognition Training (Complete)

-Breakthrough Quest

▶ Mana Awakening (Complete)

—————————————————- —

The general quest was marked as completed even though it was not actually completed in reality.

Did you complete it by completing the breakthrough quest?

What caught my eye after that was the quality of the level and horsepower.

Apprentice 1st Class was the lowest level of wizard rank.

It was natural, since I had just awakened to mana.

What was a bit disappointing was the quality of the magic power.

This was a talent that determined the strength and efficiency of magic, so it was a bit disappointing that it was only E-rank.

Still, it was okay because it was magic power.

Unlike the properties of absolute immutable entities, magical power quality can be improved by taking elixirs, so it wasn’t a big concern for Leon, who was planning to mass-produce elixirs.

Leon happily accepted the regular quest reward.

▶ You have obtained the essence of play (F-).

A reward that now feels natural.

Afterwards, I received a reward for completing the breakthrough quest.

‘hmm…?’

▶ The reward probability has increased as the level of land has increased.

▶ 100 hours of Space-Time Orb were provided.

‘Increased probability? Space-time orb?’

Leon immediately snapped back to reality and examined the orb.

When I checked the jewel, I saw the number 179 written on it.

Leon originally had 101 hours.

Including the time received from completing regular quests and breakthrough quests, it’s 211 hours.

‘Roughly… … has it been over a day?’

The method of vomit continued for 32 hours.

You were so absorbed in nothingness that you didn’t even rest.

Of course, I expected it would take most of the time I originally had, but I didn’t know it would all come together in one go.

It certainly seemed like the changed properties had an effect.

‘Come to think of it, this jewel is called the jewel of time and space.’

Only then did Leon realize that his eyelids were very heavy.

‘Let’s go to sleep first.’

Leon returned to the dormitory and closed his eyes happily.

*****

It’s been a long time since someone came to the old magic library where Leon works.

Leon also knew the face.

“Ria!”

Leon jumped up from his seat in joy.