I Reject Quests

Rewen wasn't sure how difficult this is going to be. He could feel the difference between the magic power flowing through his body and the G.C. that flowed through his body. Magic power is like blood. It has no specific rhythm but has direction and dominantly travels throughout his entire body, except for the brain and stays active all the time.

G.C., on the other hand, is like thin current which appears once in a while and is directly connected to the mind. If the mind wants it, G.C. will appear. The direction and pattern can both be manipulated if trained enough.

Compared to the two, the Earth's mana is a completely different species. It has no pattern or direction and it's a common saying that "mana flows" but it doesn't exactly. It jumps from specific body points using mana strings, quite similar to G.C. currents. It is directly connected to the brain but to what degree, nobody knows. The key difference is the process to execute skill.

Right now, Rewen could only feel the magic power flowing through his body. When it reached the tips of his fingers, it flowed back. 'Maybe I should take advantage of the time it reaches my finger… but what exactly should I do? Visualisation?' He visualised a ball of fire appearing at the palm of his hands when the magic power reached his palm.

Nothing happened.

'Let's try again.' He concentrated on visualizing harder this time.

The result was the same.

'Again.'

Failed.

'Again.'

Failed.

'Nope. This is not going to work. The miniscule amount of magic power that is appearing at the palm of my hands every 2 seconds isn't enough to condense. I need at least ten times more magic power if I want to make a palm-sized fireball. But then again, what should I do? I could feel that my entire magic power is enough to execute a palm-sized fireball four times. Will condensing work?'

He tried to condense but the magic power flowed like usual.

'So the magic power couldn't be condensed… how about control?'

The magic power which was dominantly flowing halted.

'Yup, this works. But it's going to be quite a chore to direct all the magic power towards the palm. No wait, why should I direct all the magic power when only a quarter is needed?'

Thinking so, he let three-fourths of the magic power go and brought the remaining magic power near his palm. 'Now, I think it's probably the time to visualize.' Just as he was about to visualize, the maig power which he brought near the palm escaped making him speechless. 'Just stay still… ah, nevermind. It ought to have happened.' The magic power is related to the concentration. The moment his mind wanders off about other things, the magic power will escape.

'Alright. Let's review from the start. First, I felt the magic power. Second, I controlled the flow of the magic power. Now the third step should have been visualization but it appears there's an extra step in between. I have to somehow trap the magic power but how exactly? I could make a barrier around it but won't the barrier collapse when I start to visualize? No, how about I condense the barrier?' 

He wasn't too optimistic but he planned to try it anyways.

Rewen took a deep breath and again brought some amount of magic power to his palm. He brought a little more than one-fourths because he needed to make a barrier.

'Here goes nothing.' As soon as he brought the magic power to his palm, he immediately started coating the entire wrist area not letting any of the magic power escape. 'This worked.' Sweat dripped from his forehead as he thought about the next step. 'Now. Condense. But how? Focusing on the barrier doesn't exactly condense it. Hmm… maybe condensing isn't the right word, it's more like freezing.'

'Yes. Freezing.' He connected the magic barrier with the wrist muscles. 'It fucking hurts. Of course, it would hurt. But this is worth it.' The magic power could no longer escape and remained trapped in the palm.

'Next, visualization.' Closing his eyes, he imagined a ball of red fire appearing on his palm. As seconds passed, he could feel his palm getting hotter and heavier. It eventually came to a point where the heat couldn't be tolerated anymore. At this moment, he opened his eyes and saw an uneven fire revolving around his palm. 'It's hot but it isn't harming my body.'

He stared at the fire for a few seconds before he realized. 'What do I do with this? Eat it? I mean, how should I release it? Or is it the carry-type? I'll just try to throw it.'

Meanwhile, Denny who was beside Rewen was panting hard when he saw the fire that had lit up in her palm disappearing after a few seconds. 'As expected, it's difficult. The guide book was overly simplified. I'll try it after a few minutes again. Oh, shit! I haven't instructed Rewen.' 

"Rewen, I'm s-" Her words halted when she saw him stretching his right hand in which the fire was lit and…

*Boom*

A loud sound reverberated across the forest. 

When the dust settled, four trees which were standing tall collapsed. 

"Not bad. Not bad at all." Rewen smiled with satisfaction while also feeling a bit of pity for the ecosystem.

"How did you do that?" Hiding her shock, Denny asked. It must be known that [Fireball] wasn't exactly a destructive skill. If downplayed, it could even be called a party trick. At most, it could cut the branch of a tree deep but to destroy several trees at once is unheard of.

"Wait a second." Rewen saw a blue screen appearing in front of his eyes.

---

Quest: Learn [Fireball] on your own. [Completed]

---

Rewen then checked the stats to see if anything changed.

---

Level: 20 (0/100)

Class: Simplified Mage 

Social Status: Peasant

Strength: 7

Dexterity: 8

Constitution: 9

Intelligence: 8

Charisma: 7

Luck: 7

MP: 20

Passive Skills: None

Active Skills: Variant Fireball Lvl. 1 [0/20]

Equipment: Tier 1 Middle-Bronze Ranked Unnamed Daggers, Unranked arrows.

---

"It looks really cool!" Rewen exclaimed.

Denny got interested. "Where? Show me."

Rewen showed her his stats proudly.

"What is [Variant Fireball]?" She asked in confusion.

"How would I know?"

"Wait, did you not read the guide?"

"There was a guide? No wonder!"

Denny didn't know what to say for a while. "You probably created the [Variant Fireball] using your own ways. It's not rare for people to do so but people who create variants are usually knowledgeable about the original skill. So for you to create a variant is beyond impressive." She was not stingy in praise. At the same time, she also realized her own narrow-mindedness. 

Time and again, she looked down on him for having a bad academic record and constantly let himself be bullied. She always felt that being bullied would make him stronger. At some point, she realized that it was just an excuse, because to see him throwing away his last bit of pride when getting bullied satisfied her greatly. 

She knew that she should try to help him instead of watching him through the sidelines and abandon her twisted thoughts but couldn't. She didn't want to admit it but deep down, she knew the source of her satisfaction. As kids, her and Rewen were very competitive but no matter what the subject or field was, Rewen was always on top of the class which created a small grudge inside her. Apart from that, she also didn't want to be the odd-one-out among her friends. She thought that she would likely be ostracized by her friend group if she helped Rewen.

'What's this? Why am I reflecting upon myself when I did nothing wrong? I'm not the one who bullied him. Maybe it's my fault for not realizing that he had interference when his grades dropped but that's his fault for not telling me in the first place!' She defended herself in her mind. The reason she is thinking all these is because she felt pressure from Rewen. 

"What are you thinking about?"

Looking at his bright smile, Denny's thoughts became even more muddled. An emotion called 'guilt' made a small mark on her heart. "I was just thinking about your… marriage."

Rewen's face instantly went down. "Sigh, tease me all you want. I have to apologise to both Sam and Mother."

"You don't feel embarrassed to call her mother?"

"Why would I?"

"Because she isn't your real mother?"

"Sure, but she is ten times more responsible than my real parents."

"You shouldn't be saying this." Denny said sternly.

"Take it as me seeking parental affection since I never got that."

"..." Denny didn't doubt his words but she thought it was a bit…

"You think it's lame, right? It's no different from renting a girlfriend to seek affection from her because you don't have one."

"But you have…" She couldn't complete it.

"Anyways, the point is that I am somewhat fond of my family here and don't want to let them down. What do you think I should do?"