16. Real Magic

The weekend began, when Trevor reached his room, covered in the dim light from the partially covered window, threw the backpack to the side, and jumped on the bed to assume the proper position, then start the meditation, not caring about anything else. It wasn't easy, since in his head was complete chaos.

Dozens of thoughts competed over his attention. Some focused on Bill and Joe, a few about Liv, but the biggest chunk revolved around his system and ways to get stronger before his duel.

It was quite hard to focus on the proper breathing, and other stuff he needed to do to meditate properly, but he did his best, and around half an hour in, regained peace of mind. After that, the process became much easier, and to his surprise, a familiar ping sound hit him not once, but twice.

He opened his eyes, and the bell icon was there, in the corner of his vision.

- Open messages.

The semitranslucent window appeared, and there was a new entry there, he focused on it.

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Congratulations on reaching 'Energy' 10 & 'Control' 10!

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He almost rolled his eyes after reading the words, since he really didn't need such a „congratulations". What he needed, was progress.

Since there was only one entry and two sounds, he immediately switched to missions.

- Open missions.

The view changed. Just like he thought, a new entry in the missions screen also appeared. He immediately focused on it.

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Title: More power!

Goal: Increase the value of your 'Energy' to 25.

Description: To increase your 'Energy' open the memory pack attached to the mission entry, and follow the instruction.

Reward: 'Energy Overcharge'

Attachments: Energy cultivator's memory pack.

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The boy quickly read through the description, and a smile crawled on his face, as he couldn't help but be incredibly happy with the new mission leading to obtaining his first skill. He opened the pack, and the flow of foreign memories hit him, making him stretch completely on the bed due to the physical reaction of his body, which was not listening to him at all.

He groaned out of pain, since it hurt his brain, but quickly picked himself up, and proceeded to practice in the way his newly obtained knowledge indicated.

In theory, he was supposed to split his energy into two separate entities, and make them circle around one another, as he practiced the previously learned meditation, which would create a siphon type effect, and would drain the air from power much quicker.

The impact on his 'Energy' statistic was supposed to be strong. On the other hand, this way of training was influencing his 'Control' just a tiny bit. No more than the regular way of meditating would. Still, it was an upgrade.

It took him a few minutes to adjust to changes, but the fresh memories smoothed the whole process a lot, and soon he was practicing in a proper way.

He kept doing so until his father knocked on his door to call him for a dinner. He went to eat quickly, then returned and pushed himself until the point of exhaustion, noticing an increase of 5 in the value of his 'Energy', but completely nothing in 'Control'.

He had no dreams that night.

After waking up, he didn't even bother with going to the bathroom to wash up, instead began the practice immediately. It continued throughout the day, with only short breaks to eat.

It was hard to remain concentrated for such long periods of time, but Trevor was determined, and there was nothing in the entire world that could stop him. He pushed himself as far as he could, which led to having a number of 22 next to his 'Energy' by the end of Saturday. His 'Control' also increased to 12, making him ecstatic.

Sunday started in an identical manner, and he even skipped the breakfast, just to focus on achieving the mission goal as soon as possible, so he could then focus a bit on increasing his proficiency at the spell 'Flare'.

He achieved his goal after a few hours, which was announced by a familiar sound, which rang twice. He opened his eyes, quite thrilled about the double ping, and immediately opened the messages, due to the existence of a small bell at the edge of his vision.

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Congratulations on finishing the mission More power! You've been awarded a skill: 'Energy Overcharge'

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He quickly read through it and switched to the 'Status' window, and focused on the skill to get more information:

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Name: Energy Overcharge

Description: By creating two separate entities with your energy, and rotating them while you meditate, you create a siphon-like effect gathering more energy from the air, over time increasing your own energy resources. Increase your proficiency to evolve the skill to the next stage.

Proficiency: 5%

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- Why the heck is this a skill, while the meditation I learned wasn't? - he asked himself out loud while scratching his head.

It was so weird for him, but the more he thought about it, the less idea he had of why things were like they were. In the end, he just shrugged his shoulders, and checked the mission's window, since there were two sounds, not just one, and only one message so he assumed there was a new entry there.

As he found out, he was indeed right, and he earned himself a new quest.

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Title: Real magic.

Goal: Increase the proficiency of the spell 'Flare' to 100%.

Description: Practice the spell to understand it better, and use it more effectively.

Reward: Access to the spell adjustment system.

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- Nice – escaped his mouth as he read the description.

He had almost no idea what the 'spell adjustment system was' but it sounded quite cool to him, and definitely picked his interest, so he got out of the bed. As he quickly learned, remaining in an uncomfortable position for a long period of time can give you cramps in your legs, so he had a bit of trouble standing, but after a few minutes of struggle, he regained all the functionality he needed, so he could move towards the door, but ended up stopping halfway in.

He just remembered to grab his phone, so he had to actually turn back, and get it, and then finally got outside.

He passed by the kitchen on his way out of the house, where his mother was currently working on dinner.

- Are you going somewhere?! - she asked half shouting, since the boy didn't stop, and just kept walking towards the entrance.

- Yes!

- The dinner will be soon!

- I'll get back in an hour!

- Can't you wait?!

- I'm just going to the garden to practice magic a bit.

- Ok, honey, just be careful!

Trevor rolled his eyes, quickly put on the shoes, and got outside. Then he walked around the house to get to the garden. It was surrounded by a fence made out of wood, painted brown for some reason, and was mostly empty since his mother usually was doing her yoga there during the times when the weather was nice.

There were some flowers in big pots, placed just by the fence, but not too many of those. In the right corner, next to the house wall was a pail of different items his father was using from time to time, covered by a waxed piece of thick cloth, to protect what was under from rain or other types of bad weather.

There was one window in the house with a view of the garden, in his parent's bedroom, but it was covered from the inside. Except for that nothing. No backdoor, which was great since he felt like he had a bit of privacy to practice.

- Open status, spells.

The semitranslucent window opened in front of him, with the single entry of 'Flare' and a number he previously didn't check, to focus on the progress in terms of 'Energy' and 'Control'. It was a nice 14%. Nice, considering he used the spell only a few times. Now he could do it more times in a row, thanks to the amount of his energy.

He started by concentrating the powers in his left hand, and it burst into flames like it should, but then he did the same to his left, and the effect was identical, which put a smile on his face.

The rest of the day Trevor spent practicing, with few breaks to eat or restore his energy, reaching a 32 percent proficiency of the spell.