“Perfect, you said your name was Locke right? Let me start by explaining what mana is and how it synergizes between the world and the system provided to players.” Claire stood up and started pacing back and forth while explaining.

“First mana is produced by the planet's core and all forms of life will utilize it in some way. MP or mana points shown in your Character Screen indicates how much your body can store at one time. Once your MP is lower than it's current maximum your body will then begin to draw in mana from the world around you. This is indicated by the Mana Regen section on your status window. The maximum mana your body can hold as well as mana regeneration is increased by allocating stat points, wearing certain equipment, or possessing passive skills, etc.” Claire continued to pace while explaining until Locke interrupted her.

“I am not a novice at playing video games, there is no reason to explain MP regeneration to me.”

The instructor with an annoyed expression halted her pacing then turned to look at Locke.

“Remember what you just said, you wanted the basics and this is the basics now shut up and listen.” She replied with that hint of anger in her tone.

Locke's expression did not change but he was inwardly sighing.

This isn't exactly what I meant by basics lady.

Claire paused after seeing the look on Locke's face and then sighed “Are you sure you have the patience to learn magic? I don't want to be wasting my time here if you're not actually interested.”

Locke was in awe at this point, other than her name being displayed in green letters he would not be able to tell this was an NPC, an AI created by humans. AI has come along way in games, but it was never good enough to replicate what it felt like to have real human interaction until now. These did not feel like preprogrammed responses at all.

He nodded indicating to her to continue.

“I was honestly just going to explain everything in one sitting, but let's see if you can accomplish this task first, it shouldn't be that difficult,” Claire continued, “The first task will be to come back to me once you can visualize mana, all proper mages can do this.”

There was a slight pause in the explanation but Locke decided to wait to see if she had more to say, and of course, she did. The pause was most likely a bait. She seemed to have an odd personality, or she was just testing him. Either way, he wouldn't interrupt her anymore if he could help it just in case it causes future problems.

She smiled. “Now while I said it wouldn't be difficult, that is only because we have a specialized facility to assist in the process, please follow me.” The instructor motioned towards the door.

It felt odd treating an NPC this way, normally I would just rush the dialogue until they started saying stuff that actually mattered. But, I just have a feeling that is the wrong approach in this game. Based on the conversation so far if there is a hidden affection modifier on NPC's mine has dropped a bit due to my previous comments.

Affection was known by many different terms in the RPG genre but essentially it just means how favorably an NPC will treat you in particular. With a high affection rating on certain key NPC's this could give the player several benefits like access to optional quests, better items/prices for their shops, hidden dialogue etc. These benefits are the main reason he didn't want to risk crossing Claire anymore.

They both exited the office and entered the door on the right. The room they entered was pretty large and open. There were similar wooden training dummies that he saw outside set up in an orderly fashion. He also noticed human like mannequins posed in odd ways with their palms facing the dummies aside from one.

It's actually quite hard to breathe in here.

“Why does the oxygen seem thinner in this room, It's is almost like we're extremely high up on a mountain top”. Locke decided to ask.

“You noticed, I suppose it would be hard not to. This room is built to have a higher concentration of mana. Normally this would be a rare phenomenon while exploring the world and staying inside an area with mana this dense can have harmful affects on the body.” She responded with a proud tone.

“However Locke! this is the tutorial and with it comes numerous advantages that you won't find anywhere else once you exit. Your HP/MP/Stamina cannot decrease, your body is immune to any status effect that is harmful to one's body, and you never even need to eat or sleep.

Locke now understood why the NPC's get hammering into the players that this tutorial should be taken advantage of. He kind of felt bad for the power gamers out there. He knew that a lot of the rankers from Odyssey including some of his old friends will most likely do the bare minimum in this place. They will rush towards the dungeon tutorial and ultimately get to the main game as quickly as possible. One could understand their reasoning; they are veterans in the gaming world and should easily be able to figure out the system on their own. Also if you are the first person out of the tutorial, you will be ahead of everyone else and can enjoy the advantages that others will miss.

He had the distinct feeling in his gut at this point that even if he spent a while in this tutorial he wouldn't be behind the other players by any means. Sure he might be a lower level than the other players, but building a good foundation might be very important here.

“Isn't it wonderful! The amount of effort we are putting into train newbies like you is much more than you deserve you better be thankful!” Claire continued her speech but then paused as if waiting for some sort of thanks but continued on after noticing Locke had no intention of providing it.

“Ahem.... enough standing around hurry up step further inside, I will now show you the second feature of this room.” Claire talked as she walked over towards one of the mannequins and pressed what looked to be a button on the back of its head.

The spell started forming in the palm of its hand. Shortly after a spear of ice launched towards and pierced into its target. The spear eventually melted and the training dummy restored itself which then triggered another ice spear to be launched. It wasn't a literal spear made of ice in the traditional sense. It was more like a long icicle that was sharp and pointed on both ends instead of one.

“Each mannequin here will cast a different spell. When a spell is being formed a person will use both their own mana as well as the mana from their surroundings to create it. You will understand more about that later but the point is you need to watch intently while the spell is cast until you get a glimpse of the mana moving.” She made a hand gesture urging him forward towards the mannequin casting the spell.

Claire watched the expression on Locke's face waiting to see if there was that look of eureka as the casting continued for a few minutes. Noticing that same expression on his face she thought to herself “He is no prodigy it seems.”

“Well, I provided you with the necessary tools for success now it's up to you to figure this out. Come back to my office when you complete the task and don't bother me unless you do.” The instructor proceeded to walk out of the room.

Locke didn't try to stop her because he knew this facility is in itself a huge advantage compared to others that don't find this place. If he cannot learn how to sense mana here then he would consider himself a failure. There was one thing that concerned him, what was mana supposed to look like? He didn't even know what to look for. Once his thoughts started moving towards this direction he noticed his confidence draining away.

No I shouldn't think like this. The developers mentioned that the Second Brain synergizes with the magic system. That could only mean that the Second Brain will assist with mechanics the human brain cannot comprehend. This situation should be one of those cases. Also, it's not like I am completely helpless here.

Locke opened his character screen and viewed its contents. Having the ability to sense mana would almost be like a sixth sense, and the perception attribute increases a player's ability to perceive everything around them. While there is no specific details on how it works, one could assume that increasing the Perception attribute should help here. The question remains is that really the correct choice, having high Perception while having low attributes everywhere else sounded weak.

Let's think about this from another angle, if I allocate all my 10 free stat points into Perception and then almost immediately learn how to sense mana would Claire give me a better reward? It's very possible but not certain. Another point to make is the Intelligence attribute states that it will help with the control of mana. It was almost a given that the next step is controlling mana. If that is the case having a higher Intelligence attribute will be more important.

Locke continued to weigh the pros and cons of several ideas before ultimately coming to a decision.

It's decided I will try to visualize mana without spending any points for now. If I am no closer to learning how to sense mana by the end of the day 5 points will be spent to increase my perception.

Now a day may seem like a long time, but keep in mind he doesn't need to eat/sleep at all in the tutorial. Also, two weeks in the game is only one day in the real world. The only limiting factor here is boredom.

Locke continued to watch the spell being formed and shot towards the training dummy over and over again for fifteen minutes.

Yep, boredom could very well be a problem here.