A rolled-up scroll made of parchment and wrapped with a ribbon sealed with red wax appears on the table as a notification appears in my vision. I release the orb of light floating above my palm, which was shining as intensely as I'm currently able to make it – increasing my Magic lets me make it brighter, it seems.

Quest Completed: Magical Might I Reward Granted: 5 low-quality mana potions; 1 Tier I spell scroll; +1% Experience

Completing both of these Quests took longer than I expected. [Bountiful Mana I] took me two days to finish, while [Magical Might I] took me four days. Though these are beginner Quests, I misjudged them because of how easy the others I'd completed were.

Fortunately, things have been quiet here, so I've managed to survive, now consuming only what foods I have left that didn't need refrigeration. I threw all of that stuff out already. No one's come to try to take my home or raid me yet, which I'm grateful for. Logan and Greta are long gone, and I know three of my neighbors are dead, for one reason or another. Others are either doing the same as I am and just preparing and figuring things out, or they've left.

Even if no one's come to my house yet, I'm planning on leaving soon. There's been a few break-ins nearby, and it's making me uncomfortable. They've mostly gone for places they think are empty, and it's a matter of time before they either think mine is or they start hitting places with people. Especially if they band up.

Guns are still in decent use, so it's dangerous to fight against someone still using one at the moment. I need to get more powerful. Because of that, I want to head into a Dungeon, and there's a Quest for that.

Zorvax Forest Caves Available Rank: 2 Requirements: Complete the Zorvax Forest Caves Dungeon Reward: 10 low-quality mana potions; 5 low-quality small magic crystals; 100 syscre Details: Dungeons are a proving ground for any would-be adventurer or warrior. They're ideal for training, growing stronger, and acquiring rare materials. With Experience earned within held until completion, the benefits of a Dungeon are immense! Enter with a team or explore by yourself, the choice is yours. Note: This Quest can only be accepted until you have entered the Zorvax Forest Caves Dungeon for the first time; if it has not been accepted by then, it will become permanently unavailable.

This Quest has told me several things.

First, there are Dungeons now. I'm not sure how similar they are to video games, but I'm going to assume that once I enter, I can't exit until after I've beaten it. That probably means facing off against a boss monster at the end.

Whether or not others can enter while I'm inside if they're not a member of my party, that's something I'll learn. The way it describes the Dungeon, there are a few things to learn from the Quest, too. It withholds any Experience earned within? I'm assuming that's just normal Experience. Based on the way thing are worded, we can probably still increase our Attributes and Skills inside. If so, I can see how not gaining Levels – and thus missing out on Attribute gains from Traits we earn inside – while within can be a good thing.

If a Dungeon pushes our limits, then we may even earn additional Traits inside, too. That's a reason I can see for holding off Experience gains inside – to allow us an even bigger benefit than just raising our Attributes and Skills. After all, if my total Experience gains inside allows me to reach Level 10, and I'd receive a new Trait 9 Levels into that, I'd only gain the benefit of all Levels after that. However, if I earn that, then those 10 Levels, that's an additional 9 Levels' worth of Attributes I'd gain.

The second thing this has taught me is that 'syscre' is the System's money. When I saw this Quest and wondered what syscre was, a message popped up informing me of this. I'm not sure how much that's worth, though.

Third, there are limited-availability Quests. I'm not sure if there are any that only a certain number of people can complete, but this one can only be accepted until a certain action is taken. Hopefully, they all contain a warning if this is the case.

Those are the main things I can think of for what this Quest has told me. I'm not going to accept it immediately, but I plan on accepting it soon. Why aren't I accepting it immediately?

Because I only have one Quest Slot. If I accept it, then I can't take on any other Quest. Even if I don't need the Quests to do this stuff, the rewards will be useful – especially having mana potions when going into a Dungeon.

So I'll stay maybe a week more, train myself a bit more, and then head off to the Dungeon. I'm certain I can complete the [Wizard Apprentice] Quest by the end of today, so I close the Dungeon Quest and open up the [Wizard Apprentice] Quest and accept it.

With that done, I pick up the scroll and Inspect it. I've begun Inspecting everything I haven't already done so with in an attempt to raise my Inspection Attribute more, and this is the first spell scroll I've received.

Tier I spell scroll Attribute Acquired: +1 Inspection

It's about time this went up, and I'm betting it's because of what I inspected. Nothing changed in the message telling me it's a Tier I spell scroll, so I Inspect it again.

Tier I Spell Scroll Quality: [Not Applicable]

So I can see the quality of things now? I suppose it won't do more for the mana potions, since I already know their quality because of the notices. Though the Inspection on them didn't tell me they were low-quality before.

Reaching for the seal on the scroll, I find a new message appearing in my vision the moment I touch it.

Magic Bolt Spell Scroll You already have this spell in your Skill set. By using this scroll, you will increase its Level by 1. Infuse 1 Mana into the scroll to activate, or sell the scroll for 50 syscre.

So the System puts this as worth 50 syscre? I'm assuming I need to figure out how to access the System Shop before I can sell it, though. I'm not planning on selling it, however. After all, I need to increase Skill Levels for my spells to unlock the [Wizard Apprentice] Trait.

Dismissing the notice, I push my mana into the scroll, just enough to activate it, and a message appears in my vision as knowledge of how to improve [Magic Bolt] a little fills my mind. A way to cast it with just a little bit less of a cost.

Skill Improved: Magic Bolt is now Level 2 Experience Acquired: +1%

Now I have four Skills at Level 2. Either I can bring one more up to Level 2, or I can work on improving one, two, three or all four of these further. Because [Magic Bolt] is my only offensive spell at the moment, I decide to work on it, especially since the System's helpfully shown me a way of improving it already. Stupidly, I'd neglected to work on trying to improve the spell in favor of [Water Orb], [Bright Flash], and [Light Orb] while working on those two other Quests.

First, though, I step out back to test out the new version of [Magic Bolt]. It takes just as long for me to cast as before, but instead of costing around 3 Mana, it costs me about 2.8 Mana. Only a small improvement. I want to drop this more before heading into the Dungeon.

At 43 Mana, that means I can cast fifteen [Magic Bolt]s from full instead of only fourteen. It's only a small improvement, and since it takes me almost seventeen minutes to recover just 1 Mana, which is probably close to fifty minutes for enough to cast a single [Magic Bolt], I really want to decrease the cost.

My Mana Regeneration hasn't improved at all, even though I've left myself recovering it nearly constantly. So far, the only bit I've acquired was from when I first used magic, and none of my training has helped me increase it further.

However, in an effort to raise my Mana and my Magic, I was also running myself empty nearly all the time during my training.

Perhaps that's wrong? I was able to increase my Mana by waiting until I was full, then burning through it as quickly as I could. What if, to increase my recovery, I have to instead keep myself as low on Mana as possible? I'm at about half of my capacity right now, which is only a few [Magic Bolt]s overall.

That only gives me a few attempts at improving the spell before I need to wait more than forty minutes to cast another.

Holding out a hand, I think over the information the Skill Level gave me. It's a way to better-contain the Mana put into the spell, as the spell apparently leaks some. Examining this knowledge, I try to make a few adjustments to the spell on my own, to better-reduce the leakage, allowing me to spend less Mana on it.

Taking a deep breath, I will the attempt into reality, spending only about 2.4 Mana on the spell as a notification forms in my vision.

Skill Improved: Magic Bolt is now Level 3 Experience Acquired: +1%

I just succeeded on the first try. That was much easier than I expected, and what's more – I had an even bigger decrease than the spell scroll gave me! Does that mean spell scrolls give a lower increase to a spell than simply working on it ourselves could? I guess it would make sense – the System so far seems to be encouraging our growth and training, including pushing us to do it ourselves. Or at least, when I look at the Quests I'm actually interested in, I see this suggestion.

This decrease to the cost means I can cast a few more from full, as well as spend only forty minutes waiting until I can cast it again. It also means I can cast one more now than I could before that improvement with how much Mana I have left, so I get to work on improving the spell again.

Attempting to modify the spell again, I fire off another [Magic Bolt], finding myself disappointed. The cost went up a little for that one. I suppose I can't just rely on the information from that one spell scroll for continued progress.

My next attempt at improving the spell is an utter failure as well, though at least the cost doesn't increase – the spell itself simply fades away almost as soon as I cast it. I don't let up on my attempts, though, spending a few minutes between casts to think on the way the spell is cast.

Once I run out of Mana, I prepare lunch for myself. Two packs of ramen cooked in a saucepan on the grill. After lunch, I strip off my shirt and begin practicing with my knives, throwing knives, and martial arts. I attempt to improve [Magic Bolt] again every time I have enough Mana for it, slowly figuring out the spell better.

This is much harder than I expected it to be. I'm almost tempted to use some of my twenty-five mana potions for this, but those are definitely being saved for the Dungeon. Maybe they're supposed to be used in this training, to help us do it faster? Without them, it's definitely taking a long time. Depending on how much they contain, I might've already had this Trait.

Probably at the cost of increases to my mana capacity, though.

Pushing through, I continue this training, keeping alert for any signs of anyone breaking into the house. I've got all of my bags here out back, just in case.

A little after the sun has gone down, I finally find success – on all three fronts.

Attribute Acquired: +0.001 Mana Regeneration Skill Improved: Magic Bolt is now Level 4 Experience Acquired: +1% Trait Acquired: Wizard Apprentice Attributes Acquired: +1 Mana, +0.001 Mana Regen, +1 Magic Quest Completed: Wizard Apprentice Reward Granted: 5 low-quality mana potions; 1 Tier I spell scroll; +1% Experience

The bonuses for [Wizard Apprentice] are nice. I like them very much, considering that it raised my Mana Regeneration. Strangely, I actually gained 3 Mana, not the sole point of it the bonus claims. Did the hidden Attribute that gave me the amount I started with increase, too? If so, that's nice.

According to the Trait, I gain that same amount of Attributes per Level, too, which is even better. That means I won't have to worry too much about raising my Mana Regeneration, as long as monster kills earns me enough Experience.

However, I still want to increase it by at least 0.001 more before going to the Dungeon. I also want to try improving this spell further, decreasing it from 2.1 Mana down to no more than 1.5 Mana, if I can. I want to decrease the cost of [Light Orb] as well, and complete at least two more Quests.

Looking at the requirements for [Wizard Adept], which I'm assuming is the next Quest in the Trait's line, it'll probably be a few months I can achieve it. A total of 50 Skill Levels between spells, with only spells at Level 2 and above counting for it.

Picking up the spell scroll on the table, I find that it's for a spell called [Fire Shot]. Judging by that name, it shoots a burst of fire forward. It's something I'll save for now, as I'm exhausted and it's gotten late.

I'm going to bed, and in the morning, I'm going to put myself through a week of hell in preparation for the Dungeon. Hopefully, nothing will force me to move up this schedule.