Pulling up the chair across from Claire he sat down while waiting for her to initiate the conversation.

“Well from the expression on your face it looks like you completed the task and are not here to ask me any sort of questions,” She said, “You know I would be pretty upset if that wasn't the case right?”

“You don't have to worry about that, the system made sure to let me know it was completed.”

“Good so you don't mind me performing a scan on you correct?” She asked in a questioning manner but it didn't seem like he was going to have a choice in the matter.

Locke nodded in agreement and he felt that same sensation of hot and cold flowing through his body. It was a very invasive feeling and not exactly pleasant.

“Your Avatar has learned the basic mana sense passive skill, which means your task is complete.”

A window appeared in front of his face informing him that the quest was completed and that he achieved level 2. Quickly dismissing the notification windows he decided to get more information on how scans work.

“Is this so called scan common among NPC's in the game or just in the tutorial?” Locke inquired, “Also do they always ask before performing the scan, or will certain NPC's use it without asking?”

“All important NPC's will have the ability to scan someone, The large majority will be forced to ask before performing the scan with some exceptions,” Claire answered.

A few more questions were asked in regards to scans and their exceptions as Locke wanted to have a better understanding of what to expect. Like mentioned NPC's for the most part will always ask if they can perform a scan unless you are a criminal of high renown. She also gave an example that a high ranking NPC who is a member of an assassin type guild may perform one without asking, but obviously, you would be able to tell it was happening.

Players can learn this ability but that won't happen until much later, around the same time players will most likely know how to prevent it as well. Claire would not go into detail on what information is given to an NPC when scanned, something about learning things on your own is important.

“Alright enough about that let's proceed to your next task which is how to control the mana in your body.”

She got up out of her chair and walked towards the room's exit motioning for him to follow. They continued moving up the staircase to the second level and proceeded down the walkway towards the door at the far end. This room had a similar sensation to the previous training area as the mana was extremely dense and no windows were present. This room however was furnished and well decorated which was a nice change. It was similar to a small classroom with a few desks and chairs.

Claire stood behind what looked to be the teacher's podium and told him to find a seat. After she saw Locke get comfortable she began to give her lecture.

“Controlling mana should not be very difficult now that your brain comprehends what mana is,” She explained, “That said you could have learned how to control it before learning mana sense but doing it in this order will be quicker.”

“As mentioned previously your body stores mana in the form of MP, that MP will be contained within a core,” She began to pace back and forth during her explanation, “Your job is to pull mana out of that core and push it towards the palm of your hand. That core is present inside your body close to your heart. You will need to sense the core and then control the mana it contains.”

She paused for a second and looked at Locke to confirm he didn't look lost.

“Before I proceed in attempting to do this should I allocate more points into the Intelligence attribute, will that help speed up this process?” Locke decided to ask since there was a pause in the conversation.

“I am not going to tell you how to spend your attribute points, but if your question is if that would help then the answer would be yes.” She answered.

Locke immediately opened the Character Screen and assigned all 10 attributes to Intelligence, this included the 5 points he just received from leveling up previously. There were two main reasons he did not hesitate this time. The first reason would be saving time, and the second reason would be the benefits of being the first one to control mana. Just like when he was the first person to learn mana sense gaining 2 extra wisdom, he had hopes that a similar bonus could be awarded here.

After assigning the points Locke noticed a slightly odd feeling behind his sternum. It was extremely faint but he could feel it for sure. He decided to sit down and focus on this feeling, Claire did not speak any further as she noticed the change. After focusing for several minutes he could tell there was a foreign object inside his body emitting a warm welcoming feeling. It could be described like drinking hot chocolate on a cold day causing that warm sensation everywhere it touches inside your body. The main difference is this heat was within a spherical object. While his thoughts told him it was foreign his gut told him it was always there. This warmth was pleasant it was a shame that it was contained in the sphere, wouldn't it be better if it wasn't? With those thoughts in his mind the mana that was previously locked away inside the core leaked outside.

Looks like the basic mana control passive increases my intelligence by 3. There was a world first bonus giving 2 permanent intelligence as well; this was the correct way to proceed. That is a free level worth of attributes right now, which should help a lot in the early game.

Opening up his character screen he studied his stats and skills again. Without even looking he could easily visualize what his stats were based solely on the popup clearly stating his intelligence increased by a total of 5. But, Locke couldn't resist checking his progress on the character screen. This addiction has been engraved into his brain over the course of many different VR games he has played over the years.

Another two things Locke noticed was he gained 20 HP and 10 MP from the previous level increase as well as his mana was actually regenerating in the tutorial. This meant that when his intelligence attribute increased it didn't bring up his current mana, only his maximum. It made him wonder if he would gain a full recovery of HP and MP on level up, it would be something he could possibly check later.

“I hate to interrupt but from what I can tell you are controlling your mana just fine do you want to proceed to the next task?” Claire said.

Another notification window popped up in his field of vision informing him that he completed the aspiring mage part two. This brought his total experience to 400/900, almost halfway to level 3.

“I have to admit I did not expect you to learn how to control mana that fast, it kind of....um ruined,” She fidgeted a little before shoving a book into his hands, “Well since I don't have to wait around and teach you how to control mana you can read this.”

“What is this?” Locke questioned while observing the book.

“It's called the Basics of Magic and Sigils, This will teach you how to create your own spells from scratch,” She stated proudly, “This is the first step to becoming a proper mage in this world.”

“Creating my own spells you say?” Locke inquired, “Do I get to choose my own activation key words for when I want to cast said spells?”

Locke understood this was an odd question to follow up with.....but this was very important to him.

“For now at least the System will generate the names of the spells once created, you will understand it in time.” Claire answered, “As for saying the name out loud to activate the spell that is not necessary, but you can if you want to.”

When Claire finished that sentence there was a hint of disgust on her face which gave the impression that her inner thoughts were "please don't be one of those kinds of mages."

Locke let out of very heavy sigh of relief one of his greatest potential complaints about this game had vanished.

“That was some sigh, was it something I said?” Claire questioned.

“It's just a relief not having to use a vocal keyword to cast a spell, you just have no idea.”

“There are many types of people in this world and some mages actually enjoy saying crazy lines out loud when casting spells,” She frowned, “There is even an order of mages that go as far as to say that it is basic etiquette for a mage to do so.”

Note to self, never join that order of mages....no matter what the benefits are.

“Anyway enough about those old fools, please read this book to completion before speaking to me or testing anything out,” She declared, “I will be in my study once you are finished, keep in mind there will be a small quiz.”

As she walked out of the room Locke sat around for a minute before quickly flipping through the entire book determining the size and content. Thinking it would take a while to read and process everything he decided to find a more suitable area to do so.

After a few minutes of searching the building, he found himself a cozy looking couch and made himself comfortable. A random stray thought came to mind wondering why he didn't get a quest this time but dismissed it, there were more important things to do. Locke opened the book to the first page and began to read.