By far the most shocking thing I've learned after getting my newest sub class is that my magic stat suddenly went up to 65. I'm not sure how since it says it only gives me an extra 15 so I asked Wardcruncha about it and he says that the ritual I underwent also gave me 20 extra magic.

  How? No idea. But it's not impossible, rituals and other related practices have the ability to do that... Temporarily. And I emphasize this lack of permanence. A lot.

  From what I remember, the only thing that can give permanent stats are the Stat Scrolls inside of Pricorian dungeons. I can understand why those would be able to realistically do that since Pricors were a magically advanced race so it's not that hard to imagine their items being able to make people stronger.

  Rituals though? Not... Really. Come to think of it, I'm not so sure if this is true or not. Rituals aren't my thing and in the game, they were never expanded on.

  The one that I just went through never existed in Firelight Chronicles even.

  How many years did I spend in this world already? Close to 9? I've never even heard of magical awakening before this and I think there's a good reason for that. Now I can see why powerful mages guard this knowledge bitterly. 20 stats isn't something to be taken lightly.

  Now for the other thing...

  "Rontress, I'm not sure why you got [Awakened Rune Mage] instead of the class I promised you." Wardcruncha himself seemed confused about my new sub class. I have a feeling this is a mystery only I can solve. Great, a side quest. Just what I needed. "You said it's stronger right? Isn't that a good thing?"

  "Kind of... Yeah, you're right. You know what? Let's just go. Laself and the others are waiting for us." Complaining about more power is stupid, especially since I plan to get as strong as I can before I turn 17 but I really don't like the implications of the skills that I got from my sub class.

  Why are they all related to Pricors? Did my knowledge in coding influence them? Is that how I got a variation of the [Rune Mage] class? The possibility is high but if that's the case then what does this mean?

  Everything suddenly feels so much more stressful. Yesterday I was simply trying to find a way to prevent my catastrophic future from happening but now I'm suddenly thrust into the mysteries surrounding Pricors?

  They didn't even exist in the game! I don't even know what they look like!

  Should I do the obvious and ignore them? I don't want to do that though...

  Anyone in my shoes would be tempted to learn more about the ancient race of creatures that once ruled over this world. I can't say that I don't feel the same way.

  Seriously, the leftovers of their civilization alone can mess up the power dynamics of a kingdom or better yet– change the fate of the entire world.

  That's how powerful the Pricors were, even their scraps are considered valuable.

  So how amazing would it be if I suddenly have the ability to study their civilization and possibly even discover places that aren't just military compounds? With how powerful they were, I'm sure there's a perfectly preserved yet undiscovered Pricor city somewhere out there.

  "Rontress?"

  "Yeah?" My eyes readjusted and suddenly I'm back in the present. Laself is the one who talked and she's... Adjusting well, that's... A good thing. "I'm thinking about stuff so sorry if I'm out of it."

  "Yeah... Uhm, can I ask you why you want to be a mage? I'm sure that there are other professions out there right?" She sounded worried, which is understandable. "With your mind I'm sure that you can be a great alchemist."

  "Alchemy?" Pfft! Did she just suggest that I sit around all day making potions? I'd do it if there's a way to automate the process but since there isn't why should I even bother? "That's not a bad idea but I don't want it."

  "Really? Then how are you sure that you also don't want to be a mage?" She asked, clearly intending to pit my own logic against itself.

  Sadly, she can never understand why I'm doing this.

  "Because if I don't become one I'll kill all of you" is what I wanted to say but I bit it back. Laself really don't know just how much I want to say that and spill out all the worries I've been keeping to myself all these years.

  "Who doesn't want to do magic?" An innocent act is, more often than not, enough to make Laself let her guard down but that didn't seem to work this time around.

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  "Rontress, you know magic is dangerous right?"

  Uh, yeah. I know. It's been made very clear that mages are treated as people who constantly carry guns or an entire armory depending on how powerful they are. Magic is outlawed the same way guns are illegal back on earth and the only way to use it in public is if the practitioner has an adventurer's tag starting from gold and above, a wizard tower's robes, or permission from royalty.

  "Yeah? But what's the problem? It's not like I'll openly use magic." That'll just get me executed? I'm not stupid. "I'll keep it to myself when I'm in a city."

  Obviously there's always the risk of me being framed as someone who openly used magic but that's why I'm planning on sticking to one element until I get the gold rank in the adventurer's guild. An element that's thought to be safe and prodigious.

  Ice magic is rare in this world, and yes, it's also powerful. There's a certain amount of knowledge that's needed before someone can cast ice spells so very few water mages have the ability to use things like [Icicle Lance] and [Avalanche].

  I on the other hand didn't have this problem thanks to my knowledge in physics as well as the general education I got while on earth. How hard is it to make ice? Regular mages would struggle but for me it's not that hard.

  When I get my wand I'll make sure that it specializes in casting ice spells, with its core and runes specifically tailored for freezing the only water spell that I know about. Err, I guess it's more accurate to say it's the only spell that I know of.

  Despite its lack of usefulness most of the time, [Water Ball] having the ability to produce large amounts of water instantly makes it perfect for someone who wants to cast ice spells, which can create ice out of nothing, but it's mana efficient if there's a water source to fuel it.

  When converting [Water Ball] into a different spell, most of the work will be done by my future wand– which I am still designing. – so I only have to cast one spell, making my magic efficient.

  "That's... Good, then." Laself smiled and rubbed my head. "Good luck with that."

  "Yep!" She bought it. Or at least she decided that I couldn't be convinced no matter what, which, yeah. I won't.

  Our arrival in Ghorise was uneventful and selling food was the same as always. By the end of the day, I bought some of the materials I'll need to make the core of my wand.

  For the next few days, a strange sense of monotony came over me as I did the same things again and again: I would leave to go to Ghorise every morning, sell stuff, and then buy items for my wand. At night I'd study runes and occasionally, I'd break the repetitive schedule by setting up traps in the swamp.

  This continued until I finally got everything I needed to make my very first magical item.

  When it comes to making enchanted items it is important to remember that without the core, there's a risk of the runes falling apart. The chance of explosions happening is pretty low. Strangely enough, mana may be a potent energy source but it seems to focus on corrupting stuff rather than destroying them.

  Cores can fail but then they only sputter out like a light bulb that wasn't plugged properly.

  Making one is simple enough; just blend several magical ingredients together to create this putty-like substance called Flay and then imbue it with your knowledge.

  With one of my passives giving me a boost in mental resistance, I was able to easily focus on putting information into the Flay. Distractions? Nope. Nonexistent.

  I shoved everything I knew about ice into the material, from molecules losing energy and lumping together to form ice, the lack of heat which binds water molecules together, and other similar things.

  I even included non-physics stuff like the various cold places on earth, and even the little trivias related to dry ice that I know about.

  The rest of the information that I shoved into it is there to help the wand know what "distance", "temperature", and the myriad of things that make the physical world function the way it does.

  There's still space left in the Flay so I threw in what I know about thermodynamics– which isn't a lot. – and as an added bonus, I put the three states of matter in it as well.

  When the Flay became full of information, it hardened and by this point I had already molded it into a cylindrical shape so all I need to do now is shove it inside an enchanted item and let it do its thing.

  Next up is my wand. Although I'm technically better off using wood thanks to some of my sub classes, I wanted to use metal to make it because wood is too inefficient and to be honest, iron looks so much cooler than oak.

  Since I went out of my way to make things harder for myself, I bought an acidic solution from an alchemist which should allow me to engrave runes onto a metallic surface. It cost a lot but god was it worth it!

  Then again, this thing works by melting the metal so I don't have do overs but I don't need that.

  Practicing how to draw runes was also part of my daily schedule so I'm confident I'll be able to do this in one go... If I trace my previous works.

  I grabbed those notes and lay them on top of the metal pieces, aligning them at the spots where I want my runes to be marked.

  My "pen" pushed against the paper. Smoke drifted from the parchment and then it ate through it and touched the iron underneath, which melted from the acid.

  Slowly and carefully, I engraved runic markings to the tiny surface of my wand. There are three types of runes that need to be placed: the first are the spells, and I wrote down [Icicle Spear], [Freeze], and [Ice Wall] respectively.

  Connected to that are the activation methods to cast each spell: for [Icicle Spear] I need to move my wand to the side, point at something for [Freeze] and to cast [Ice Wall] I need to move my wand upward.

  Of course for them to actually be cast I first need to use [Water Ball], giving me a degree of control and preventing my wand from imprisoning someone in ice accidentally. With this, I don't have to worry about pointing it at people and causing unwanted casualties.

  Lastly are the runes that connect everything, from the spells to the activation runes to the core itself. The lines that I am drawing across the wand are pathways that allow magic to flow through them. The circuitry.

  It was late into the night when I finished so despite my excitement, I'm left with no choice but to kill my lantern and go to bed.

  Guess I'll test out my wand tomorrow.