|In an unknown place|

"Sire, we have an unexpected development" reported the shadowy butler.

"What?" commented the unknown seated figure.

"Nathaniel Armis, aka Dominic Miller tester 09, has just unlocked the Otherworld Ortus Project Quest Window(copyright of Otherworld Ortus Project)".

"And why is that being reported?"

"He is two years old, sire."

"Well, well. This is certainly the youngest tester to unlock the Otherworld Ortus Project Quest Window(copyright of Otherworld Ortus Project). How unusual."

"Not only that, sire, he just completed his first hidden quest. What shall we give him for his bonus reward?"

"Hmm. Since he is the youngest we have recorded, I suggest you give him something to help him on his way."

"Yes Sire, as you wish."

|Cree Village|

As I stared looking at the green screen of my stats, a new message on a purple screen materialized.

[Quest Window(copyright of Otherworld Ortus Project)]

[Congratulations, you have completed hidden quest, Stop the Thief!]

[Collected Reward?]

[Yes/No]

I clicked Yes. Immediately another screen appeared.

[You earned 500 LP]

[You earned Bonus Item:-Cultivation Pill-]

[To access -Cultivation Pill-, go to inbox]

{Congratulations, 143/143 LP met. You Leveled Up! Now Level 15!}

{Congratulations, 152/152 LP met. You Leveled Up! Now Level 16!}

{Congratulations, 161/161 LP met. You Leveled Up! Now Level 17!}

{Status:

Name: Nathaniel Armis

Level: 17

LP: 149/173

Tier: 2

HP: 56

XP: 89

STR: 24

VIT: 29

DEX: 28

DEF: 28

INT: 135

WIS: 89

LUK: 40

CHA: 47

Deviant: NA

Description: Confused, Excited}

I searched my Status screen for any sign of an inbox. There were none. Taking my hand off my chest, my status screen disappeared.

Trying a different way, I placed my mana imbued hand on my chest.

"Inbox" I said.

[Inbox:

-Cultivation Pill]

[Take out -Cultivation Pill-?]

[Yes/No]

Hitting No, I turned back around. Mr. Argud and the other guard had already left. Miss Wetse was chatting with another old lady.

"Nathaniel, I'm back" At the sound of my mother's voice, I turned my head.

She was carrying an almost paperlike bag with groceries inside.

"Miss Wetse, I see that Nathaniel is fine. I was worried at first when I heard about the thief, but I heard no one was hurt"

Of course, I was there.

"Oh, don't you worry dear, Nathaniel here is just fine. He was very well behaved." Miss Wetse replied.

"As he is in one piece, you better buy some of my goods now!" Miss Wetse continued jokingly.

I honestly didn't think I was in "one piece" after the torture I had gone through.

After buying a loaf of bread from Miss Wetse, my mother and I left Cree Village. Back home, after dinner, I was placed in my bed.

"Sleep well, Dear" my mother said as she kissed my forehead.

As she left the room, I quickly accumulated mana in my hand and place it on my chest.

"Inbox"

[Inbox

-Cultivation Pill]

[Take out -Cultivation Pill-?]

[Yes/No]

I clicked Yes.

Immediately, tiny purple cubes began to appear in front of me. Then a single pill, about the size of a standard marble, appeared as the purple cubes disappeared. It was weird looking, as it was a mixture of purple and yellow.

Taking the marble-like pill in my chubby little hand, I placed it in my mouth. And swallowed.

I began to feel the effect immediately. It made energized, as though I had drinken a super sugary drink. Lying on my bed, I began my "cultivation" of stretching out my internal puddles. As I began to stretch them out, they did not resist like before, but rather flowed fluidly to my command. I had by this point got 3/4ths of my mana spread out, and after what seemed like a few minutes(actually two hours), I had got my internal mana the way I wanted it. The excess mana flowed to a spot in my midriff, which was where my mana regenerated and flowed from.

RIP two years of boring and tedious work thanks to magic pill.

I opened my eyes to the sound of wind in my room. My hair felt rumpled and my covers were everywhere. The moon was breaking through into the room. I felt energized. Getting up, I began to collect my covers. Standing in the middle of the room, I checked on my internal mana.

It was evenly spread out, with the mana at the same time heavily concentrated at my midriff. Feeling the mana, I began to circle it through my entire body.

[Congratulations, Otherworld Ortus Project User 09!]

[You have reached tier 3]

Closing the annoying purple windows, I opened my status window.

{Status:

Name: Nathaniel Armis

Level: 17

LP: 149/173

Tier: 3

HP: 56

XP: 89

STR: 24

VIT: 29

DEX: 28

DEF: 28

INT: 135

WIS: 89

LUK: 40

CHA: 47

Deviant: Unique-Lightning

Description: Energized, Excited, Annoyed}

I have lighting as my deviant!!!! Talk about OP!!!!! I can think of many ways to use this!

Standing there in the middle of my room, I realized an important factor. I had no idea how to use magic or to produce lighting.

Sitting on my bed, I breathed in deeply. I called to memory the text I had read a couple of weeks ago. "By utilizing Xetral, one can infuse with rateh and produce gamic."

Lets see, from my current knowledge, Xetral is internal mana. If gamic is produced, then that probably their word for spell/magic. That just leaves rateh. "one can infuse with rateh", ... infuse. Infuse means to fill, soak, or even take in. That must mean rateh is an external force.

Realising what I had to do, I mentally smacked myself (not for the first time). I hadn't even tried to absorb mana from the air. I focused on moving the mana like I had done many times before, except this time I focused on the outside of my body.

Nothing

As I thought back, I mentally smacked myself again. One of the first things I had tried to do when coming to this world was trying to absorb external mana(see small sentence in Ch1).

... ... ... ... ...

Focusing a fraction of my internal mana in my hand, I sat on my bed. I tried visualizing lighting, but that had no effect. I brought the mana out onto the surface of my hand, like I had done when I "fought" the thief. As I sat there, I realized the mana on my hand was slowly increasing without my mana going into the hand.

SO this must be external mana.

Taking my mana hand, I slowly released my mana into the air. As it slowly began to drift off out of human sight, I condensed it back onto my hand. The mana smashed back into my hand, smacking it onto my leg, with greater power than before.

Ow

I tried again, slowly, and it worked with better results. My hand would move slightly, but at least I didn't hit myself. After about another couple hours of practice, I had it mostly down(though not perfectly). Then, using the same principle, I released mana from all over my body. My body began to slightly glow. When I drawed it back in(slowly), I felt my internal mana increase momentarily, then settle back to slightly larger than it was before.

I still hadn't figured out how to produce lighting though.

3 weeks later

My mom has been letting me play in the backyard. It is a nice field with soft grass, several trees, and an old tree stump. I have been adding my mana release training with my BTC, and have gotten some good results. I had been waiting for my mom to leave me in the yard alone to test my new idea for about two weeks now(my dad still isn't back so I assume there is no teleportation/gate magic in this world in common use). It was on this day that my mom went in to go dust the house. I began to energize my internal mana, moving it as fast as I could, which wasn't fast. I had thought ahead and had begun the mana fluctuating process (like I said, internal mana doesn't like moving) this morning. It was now about mid afternoon.

Facing a poor unfortunate caterpillar that was on a dead tree stump, I began to quickly release small amounts of mana from my body and then bring them back into my body. This was different than before, as the mana moved quickly when it was released, energizing the external mana around me naturally. What I thought were sparks quickly appeared on my arm momentarily. Steading my breath, I raised my arm at the guinea pig caterpillar. I quickly released my internal mana in its direction, quickly(but slowly) brought it back, then released again.

POP. A flash of light emitted and blocked my vision. I could only think, "Why POP? Couldn't it have made a cooler sound?"

I was thrown backwards and landed on my back.

I am so glad the grass is soft.

Standing up slowly, I turned to look at my handwork. On the stump was a black, burned, scar on the wood. And a scared caterpillar, which looked like it had a higher luck stat than mine.

Looks like I produced lightning, but it is way too impractical. I spent nearly an entire day and then missed my (lucky) target.

Raising my hand, I took my still energized mana and released, then brought it back in again. This time, I tentatively released it till it surrounded my hand, forming a natural sharp shape. This took a lot of work, as I was constantly bringing it back in to my body and then out. This time, however, the mana did not stay still but continuously moved, and actually sparked and popped liked electricity.

Taking my electric hand, I brought it down as the air around me popped and fizzled on the stump.