6 The Creation System

'Huh?' Lyrian immediately questioned, staring at the odd, translucent blue panel that had appeared in front of his face.

Whenever he moved his retinas, the panel followed, almost like it was inside his own eyes.

He also remembered hearing the voice somewhere before, but it was too insignificant to memorize.

Originally, he thought of it as something that may have occurred in Zaryn normally to everyone.

After getting home, Rosa clearly wanted some alone time, so Lyrian went into his room and examined the panel.

It clearly stated: [Open the quest menu to see active quests.]

At the top of the translucent panel was one other tab titled "Quests". This must have been the quest menu that the panel spoke of.

He went to click it with his finger, but just the thought of clicking it somehow worked, and the quest menu opened on its own.

┏━━━Quests━━━┓

Becoming Stronger:

Complete Workout Routine:

100 push-ups

100 sit-ups

100 pull-ups

100 squats

10km run

First time completion reward: Strength +1, Speed +1, Health +1

Failure punishment: -10 to all stats for one day (Warning! At current strength, this punishment may mean death)

Time limit: 8 hrs 16 mins 20 secs (sundown)

┗━━━━━━━━━┛

'What in the hell!?'

Lyrian blinked a few times and pinched his skin, making sure he wasn't hallucinating.

'What is this?'

[The Creation System]

The voice suddenly sounded in his head once again.

'Did you… just answer me?' He questioned the random voice, slightly still hesitant.

[Yes! That is one of my many abilities.]

Lyrian paused to think for a moment.

'Firstly, does everyone get a Creation System? What even is that?' He thought to himself, knowing that clearly, he didn't need to speak out loud for the voice to hear him.

[Certainly not. According to my calculations, you are the only one with a system in this world.]

[The Creation System: A system that allows Lyrian Theageld to access the powers of Creation via magia inheritance. The reason, meaning, or background behind this information can not be disclosed any further, I'm afraid.]

'I see… If you're not going to give me any information regarding that, then tell me, what is your purpose?'

[My purpose is infinite. It is whatever you desire. Currently, my purpose is to make you stronger. Please complete the daily quest before sundown, as you will get stronger. Also, if not completed, you will die.]

'Righ–right… uh, system?'

[You may call me whatever you please.]

'Well, if your purpose is only my desire… then I guess you will be sticking around for a while. Calling you "System" the entire time wouldn't feel right…'

[…]

'Ah, I got a perfect name for you. Gear, you will be called Gear from now on.'

[Not bad.]

'What? Did you just make a joke?' Lyrian asked a little surprised at the professional, robot-sounding voice suddenly making an unprofessional comment.

[No. Please complete your daily quest.]

'Fine.'

Thinking about it some more, there was really nothing he could do about this mysterious system and its demands other than to follow its rules.

Lyrian didn't know whether it was telling the truth, or anything about it really at all, but he sure as hell wasn't going to risk dying.

For now, he decided that going along with what Gear said was going to be the only route he had, and he might as well complete the working routine, as it would make him stronger anyway.

However, before he did that, Lyrian wanted to find out what was in that second box.

He first peaked out of his room to spy on Rosa, only to see her quietly preparing dinner.

Looking at her made Lyrian's eyebrows droop slightly in sorrow, but at least she wouldn't hear him perform his commotions.

Now, learning magia wasn't only for his sake, but also for the sake of his family. He realized that he wasn't the only one that needed protection.

After closing his door, he pulled the box out from under his bed and placed it on the table before picking up the other box and slamming it into the second box lock.

The lock fell apart in one hit. It was nearly destroyed by rust, but still, Lyrian felt a little disappointed with how easy it was.

He could have just opened it the other day had he known of this.

Nonetheless, none of that mattered now. Opening the box, he found another book just as expected.

This time he swept the dust off of the cover with his hand instead of blowing, learning from his previous mistake that nearly cost him his life, before finally catching a glimpse of the title.

"Mana: The Founding Essense Of All Life"

'Mana? What in the world is that?' Lyrian had heard of magic before, but mana was completely unheard of.

In size, the book was not nearly as big as the first one, probably half the size.

Immediately, he opened the book and began to read without wasting any more time.

Another ten days passed by quickly, this time, Lyrian made sure to not be so suspicious when reading to let his parents rest easy a little and not have to worry about him.

Although the book was smaller, it was much more confusing, but Lyrian made sure to read it multiple times over in order to fully grasp its knowledge.

In the end, he understood all about mana.

In the book's words, mana was the source of all life. Originating from the core of the planet, it was a powerful substance that allowed beings to act and behave, essentially like a primal energy.

He even learned the thing that he had sought after the most, how people learned to use magic.

According to the book, one would have to use some sort of method to absorb the mana around them inside of themselves.

This was probably the most difficult part of it all, as the method could vary extremely depending on the class, culture, race, religion, and so many other factors of the person trying to absorb the mana.

Hence why there were so many methods to gather this mana inside of them. These methods were called Mana Cultivation Techniques, or in short, cultivation techniques.

From there, the mana would travel through things called meridians in one's body, and finally end up in their core where it was stored.

Once enough mana had entered the system, one would somehow become more powerful, however, the book didn't go into too much detail on that.

Still, learning this much was plenty for Lyrian.

It didn't speak about any method in general, as that wouldn't be so readily available for commoners or those without the capability of magic, but it did speak about ways in which people would usually use these methods.

Without wasting any time, Lyrian copied these ways. Sitting down on the floor, his legs crossed in a lotus position and his eyes closed.

Imagining his surroundings, he could see himself after a few minutes of concentration from almost a third-person perspective.

Except, he was an outlined black figure in pitch darkness. After another few minutes, however, weird waves and blobs of colorful gaseous liquids began to flow alongside him.

After a few more minutes, his body began to glow a slight white color, as the color essences around him began pulling towards him like he was suctioning them in.

[Body has come in contact with mana]

[No mana core found]

[… Mana core created]

[Gaining 0.00001 mana per second]

[Mana needed to break through into the next rank: 100]

As the mana went into his body, he could feel its warm feeling travel through his meridians and enter the core of his stomach, finally settling down.