The Place Where Everything Begins

Name: Jeremy Caesar Lakota

Race: Human (Le'Liac - Low-Rank Organism)

Class: Journeyman Mage (Peak - Substage 4 of Class 1 Mage)

Title: Mage of Origin (Rank 10 - Inactive), Prodigy Mage (Rank 8 - Inactive), First Mage (Rank 5 - Inactive), NEET (Rank 0 - Inactive)

Affinity:

- Fire (Common): 45.2%

- Darkness (Uncommon): 34.8%

- Space (Rare): 89.9%

- Divinity (Unique): 0.1%

Talent: Prodigy of Magic

Trait: Objective

Skill:

- Footwork (High Basic - Passive Skill)

- Ambidextrous (Mid Intermediate - Passive Skill)

- Disguise (Basic - Active Skill)

- Heightened Senses (Mid Basic - Passive Skill)

- Stealth (Basic - Active Skill)

- Breathing Control (High Basic - Passive Skill)

- Eagles Eyes (Low Basic - Active Skill)

Achievement:

1. For you, who is the fastest of your own kind to shed a mortal skin and become the first person to tread in a long and arduous path of truth-seeking. The System shall grant you the title of 'First Mage'.

2. For you, who was born a Prodigy. For you, who is destined to be standing at the very top of the universe's food chain. The System shall grant you the title of 'Prodigy Mage'.

3. For you, who achieves the impossible. For you, who defies the universe's rules. For you, who had reached the first substage of a Class 1 Mage within a mana-less world. For eternity, this attainment can never be duplicated by anyone; even the Gods feel helpless with its plausibility. It is thus considered an achievement that shall be chronicled at the highest level of Akashic Records forevermore. The universe itself shall grant you the title of 'Mage of Origin'.

Mission:

- Tutorial Mission: Survive I

...

Upon seeing his own status window for the nth time, Jeremy still felt refreshed every time he saw it. Especially the achievement section that depicted such mind-blowing and satisfying records.

*Sigh*

Jeremy let out a narcissistic sigh, and then thought heedlessly,

'What a legend I am...'

Well, it couldn't be helped that he would feel like that, as his Status Window looked really flawles... 'almost' flawless if we didn't count the 'NEET' title lying dormant there.

If someone took a look carefully at Jeremy's Status Window, they would see there was something new within the skills section.

Those were the 'prefixes' of the skills...

The reason for Jeremy to have those prefixes was simple; after acquiring a skill for the first time, it would always start with the 'Basic' rank without prefix, rank, or whatsoever.

However, after a person practiced or used a skill, the said skill would be upgraded automatically according to the skill mastery of that person.

In Jeremy's case, he used to train and practice footwork skills and breathing techniques from his acquaintances in his past life. There was no doubt that Jeremy would know one or two tricks under his sleeve.

That's why his [Footwork] and [Breathing Control] skills upgraded into High Basic level.

As for [Ambidextrous], it was the thing that Jeremy had spent almost a whole era to learn, so it naturally upgraded into the highest level among his skills, which was Mid Intermediate level.

Concerning [Heightened Senses], as Jeremy was a person who had come into contact with mana and meditated for quite some time, his senses were obviously at a very high level compared to ordinary people.

Subsequently, Jeremy's sharp senses induced the skill, [Heightened Senses], to be upgraded along, albeit only one level.

Lastly, there were two active skills that didn't have any prefix just yet. They were [Disguise] and [Stealth] skills.

Because Jeremy hadn't used them yet, causing them not to be properly assessed by the System just yet; subsequently, they didn't have any obvious level for now.

Next, for the prefix itself...

Every skill and technique in existence received from the System had a prefix followed by its level of mastery most of the time.

Regarding the ranks of prefixes, there were three. The first and lowest rank of prefixes was 'Low', followed by 'Mid', and lastly 'High'.

For example, Jeremy's [Footwork] skill was already at the level of High Basic, which meant if Jeremy could upgrade the skill further by some means, it would achieve a breakthrough and reach the level of Low Intermediate, Mid Intermediate, High Intermediate, Low Advance, and so on.

Come back to the current situation...

*Flip-flop*

*Flip-flop*

Jeremy was walking towards the gathering place where almost 30 people were assembling.

When he spotted Mitchell, whom stood alone in front of other people while saying something, Jeremy thought amusingly,

'Wow, he looks just like a homeroom teacher...'

Right when Jeremy had reached halfway there, he had thought of something so suddenly,

'Oh right, let's try the [Stealth] skill...'

Having thought so, Jeremy activated the skill by focusing his mind on the skill's name,

'[Stealth]'

Suddenly, Jeremy's presence appeared to be lower than usual several times as he approached the meeting place slowly...

Right now, it seemed like Mitchell was giving some speech as a formality while having around 30 people standing in front of him.

"Everyone did very well in the battle earlier... We've survived yet another hellish horde of monsters because of everyone's efforts and sweats. There are only three waves left from this point on, and all of us will leave here together. Please steel yourselves a bit more. I believe we will survive this ordeal eventually... "

When everyone had heard Mitchell's delusory words, they could only sigh bitterly into the air.

Their hopes had diminished away ever since two waves ago, as they could only grit their teeth and endure from then henceforth.

Within their minds right now, the only one time they would feel rejoiced was when they finally got out of this cursed place for real...

No more unnecessary false hope...

No more disappointment from their hope being destroyed...

When Mitchell saw such a sight, he could only smile bitterly, as he also didn't believe the words he had spoken himself.

'Ortus, huh... what a fucked-up planet. Why tutorial? Why selection? Why killing? Why us...?'

'Nevertheless... life must go on...'

Mitchell shook his head slightly to dismiss those useless thoughts. Then he turned his head towards the only nurse within this place and asked,

"Miss Karina, how many people died in the last horde?"

"It's three people, Mila, Cooper, and Carson. We... we have only twenty combata..."

"Ahem... That's enough."

When Karina was about to demoralize everyone further down the hill of despair, Mitchell interrupted her midway...

"..."

Afterward, a dead air reigned in among the crowd, as other people had also realized their current predicament pretty well.

After all, they were the ones who fought with the monsters for seven long waves. How could they not know that they lacked the manpower to fight with the monsters greatly?

Upon seeing everyone's depressed face, Mitchell decided to continue the reporting process to distract everyone's thoughts and bring them out from their immediate depression,

"How are the injured ones?" Mitchell asked while looking at Karina, whom stood within the crowd.

"Five people are badly injured; they cannot fight anymore. Two people have a broken arm each if they desire to fight; I think it is doable. And..." Replied Karina, a bit downcast at the end of her speech.

"And?" Mitchell asked lightly while raising one of his eyebrows.

"And... Remy stopped breathing before the meeting started..."

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