Chapter 5

(MC is currently around 278 AC just for the people's information)

Magnus settled into his role as a scribe in Rillseat. Time has passed, a few days to be precise. Magnus is currently lying on his bed, preparing to sleep for the night. The room he's been provided is much nicer than the Inn back in the village. He had a desk, a larger bed, a window with curtains, and even a small closet, to keep his clothes.

'I'm super close to being able to upgrade my system. After doing so I can ask the Lord to let me train with his troops to get my skills up. Once they are high enough that I am confident in combat, I will continue with my plan.'

[I have finished the scan about the mysterious energy in the air, would user like to see the results of the scan?]

Magnus forgot that he asked Jarvis to do that, but he was also curious. After reading tomes for a few days, he learned about the magical history of this world. The Age of Heroes, The White Walkers, The Dragons, and Valyria. He was sure that this world was more magical than it let on. 'Yes, Jarvis.'

[Based on fiction from users previous world, this energy can be called mana. After scanning the energy and the people here, many of them have small traces of mana inside their bodies. Not enough to be noticeable at all, simply a few sparks.]

'Mana? As in magic?' Magnus began to be extremely excited, 'If it is even closely as versatile as the media portrayed it, magic would make my journey 10 times easier!' He thought, 'Jarvis, is there any way I can harness this mana?'

[Unfortunately, user is not born with the necessary facilities in order to absorb mana from the air. It might be possible to absorb the mana from fallen beings who possess it, although I do not recommend this. Everyone's mana has a different signature, and it may come into a conflict inside your soul.]

Magnus became disheartened, his dreams of him flying atop dragons and casting spells to crush his enemies were stopped there. He however gained hope, 'Jarvis is it possible to increase the amount of mana one has? Without killing and absorbing others that is.'

[It is possible.]

'So if I were to absorb the mana from a normal person, over time I may be able to increase it to greater levels allowing me to harness it?'

[It is simply a possibility, the system does not know enough about magic to be able to tell for sure, user can give in books about the topic which we can scan to try and find any clues.]

'I will definitely do that the next time I am able to access the library.' Even though Magnus had no definite answer, he still found himself excited about what the future may hold. As he drifted off to sleep, he had a smile on his face.

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"499...500!" Magnus was doing his daily workouts, which consisted of running 3 laps around the castle and city (around 10 kilometers) and then completing 500 pushups and situps.

[+1 strength]

'Jarvis, show me my statistics.'

[User Statistics

Strength: 28

Stamina: 26

Agility: 21

Intellect: 19

Wisdom: 15

Dexterity: 14

Charisma: 17]

'These workouts are really paying off, I am almost triple the strength and stamina of an average man. This is surreal.' Looking down at Magnus' body, he seemed to be sculpted from stone. 'God, I don't think even the greatest bodybuilders back on Earth had such a physique. I feel... great.' A knock on Magnus' door interrupted his thoughts, and he asked who it was.

"It's Maester Ecbert, my boy. I came out of curiosity, may I enter?"

'Curiosity, oh perhaps of my past, I expected this to come earlier but no matter.' Magnus thought before calling out, "Hold on maester, let me dress first."

After finishing dressing, Magnus came and opened the door to find Ecbert standing outside with an empty tome in hand. He entered and asked if he could take a seat at Magnus' desk. Magnus obliged, and it was silent for a few moments before Ecbert asked,

"I came out of curiosity of your homeland. My colleagues at the citadel have always thought the Sunset Sea was uncrossable, and therefore we have no knowledge of the civilizations there. I would love to document as much as you are willing to tell me and send it back to the citadel, my colleagues would kill for this knowledge." The maester was very eager as he asked, but Magnus didn't mind. It was all fiction anyways.

"Very well Maester, I will tell you what you wish to know. Do you wish for me to start?" Ecbert smiled gratefully before nodding, Magnus smiled in return before he began, "So, I come from across the Sunset Sea, although we call it the Atlantic Ocean. My homeland is called Germany by the rest of Europe, which is the continent in which it resides. My family is known as the Engel family, we were a branch from the main Lodbrok family, which were the Kings of Germany at the time."

"Forgive me if I may ask lad, but how many continents are there that you know of?" Ecbert couldn't help but be amazed, could there be more than one continent across the Sunset Sea? How much bigger is this world than he and his colleagues first thought?

"No problems maester, feel free to interrupt to ask questions. It makes the experience all the more enjoyable for me." Ecbert smiled and nodded before Magnus answered his question, "We know of 4 continents, Europe which is where I came from. Africa which is directly southern to us. Asia, to the east, is the biggest of the four. Finally, Oceania, a clump of Islands to the southeast, the biggest island is known as Australia."

Every word Magnus said was accompanied by the sound of writing on paper. Ecbert was almost zealous in his writing, it seems the man truly sought knowledge, and new knowledge excited him to no end.

"Four new continents. This is unheard of." Ecbert spoke almost dreamily, his eyes betraying excitement akin to a child, his smile brighter than Magnus had ever seen on the man. "Magnus, you must tell me everything you can about your homeland and its neighbors. I shall pay you if it bothers you."

For the moment, Magnus valued his persona more than money. So he smiled and told the maester compensation is unnecessary. Following this he told the maester everything he wanted to know, answering all his questions. It took hours, but Magnus didn't mind. The excitement of the maester was endearing, and he found himself enjoying the few hours he spent explaining his 'homeland.'

"I apologize, Magnus, I didn't realize so much time has passed. Forgive me." Ecbert accompanied his words with a small bow of his head,

"Maester no need to apologize, I enjoyed it as much as you. It's been a while since I explained my place of birth. And as I said earlier, I have no need for compensation. It was a swell time, but forgive me if I must complete my other duties. I can't be falling behind now can I?" Magnus chuckled at the end of his sentence, and the maester joined in his chuckle.

"You may call me Ecbert lad, I will leave you to your duties for the day. Keep in mind the Lord did want to see you later in the day, so expect a servant to come sometime in the next few hours to escort you."

"I will, thank you Ecbert." Ecbert smiled at Magnus, before exiting the room.

'Although long, the conversation came with benefits.' Magnus thought before he looked at the notifications in his system.

[+3 wisdom]

[+2 charisma]

Magnus smiled, it seems he was truly on his way towards his goal. Every single increase he had in his stats was useful for his future, and he found himself excited about it.

'Well, it's time to get to work for the day, if I'm lucky then by tomorrow I should be able to upgrade my system, if not then definitely the day after.' Magnus got up and walked out his door to go towards the commons room, where he would spend the next few hours documenting the happenings in Rillseat.

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