Wilfred's family wasn't rich but well enough that his father could make a feast to celebrate. Everyone ate until they couldn't anymore and Wilfred even drank a bit. Alcohols in this world were pretty basic, mostly beer or wine types. Beer would do for Wilfred but he prefered drinks like whiskey and rum. Not that he was an alcoholic but when the guys on base would get leave to go at the bar, he'd join them. They often ribbed him about drinking 'girly' drinks but he took it with a laugh. He missed the camaraderie the most, brothers in arms that always had your back.

In truth, this was why he was aiming for the mage corps, hoping to find some semblance of his old life back. He liked his friends he made at the academy obviously, Lucy and Lucius were great but they would most likely take different paths when they'd be done with school. For this night though, Wilfred washed his worries away with beer and partied until early morning with his neighbors and family. When he did fall asleep, it was for a long time, he only woke up the next night and with a hangover he did not think could be that strong.

"Morning everyone."

His father chuckled.

"More like good night, you really partied hard last night didn't you?"

"Hnnng, don't remind me. Oh yeah, I wanted you to have this."

Wilfred took 200 silver coins out of his pouch and put them on the table. Naturally, his parents refused to take it.

"Nonono, that's your money soon. You'll need it for next year. I don't think you'll have that room anymore and if you need supplies or things to help you out with magic, it'll be very expensive."

Wilfred sighed and pulled out the other money, the 10 gold coins, to the amazement of his parents.

"..Whaa? Wow, I've never seen so much money in one place! How did you get that?"

"Uhh, let's just say I did a favor for the Headmaster. Now, I want you to take the silver, it'll help you out. I will need one thing from you in exchange though, I need to practice some stuff in preparation for next year so I'd really appreciate if you didn't give me any ch.o.r.es."

"Well, when you put it that way...alright."

Now it was time to get down to business. The family home was above the shop when Wilfred's father made armors. But there was also a bas.e.m.e.nt under the shop that served as storage, this was where Wilfred decided to practice his [Construct Artifact] in private. There were a lot of things he wasn't sure about his skill and he wanted to find out as much as he could about it.

Alright, so I can make guns, I've also been able to create some battery as well. What about swords and stuff, worth a try.

"[Construct Artifact]!"

Wilfred imagined a sword, western style. Blade made of steel, a hilt and pommel. However, nothing happened. Thinking it was a fluke, he tried again with a spear this time. He focused, imagining how the spear looks and feels, the materials used to create it...and nothing. It was like his skill didn't have the template to create it.

Thankfully, when it failed it did not use up his mana. Worried about his failures, Wilfred tried to do a gun once more. Something different this time though. The biggest and meanest rifle that Wilfred remembered from his past life. He visualized the barrel and scope, how it all worked together. Blue light shone from his hands and the gun materialized in them.

"Hmmm okay, so it seems my ability works fine still. I just can't make melee weapons? I wish Lucius was here, it's really annoying not being able to inspect your own creations."

Checking his status, to see how much mana he used while creating the weapon, Wilfred noticed a change.

Wilfred Lamarche [Lvl 8]

Health: 65/65

Mana: 1556/6088

Str: 10

Con: 11

Agi: 10

Dex: 8

Int: 53

Wil: 46

Wis: 55

Lck:???

Skills & Spells: [a.n.a.lyze], [Wind Aura], [Construct Artifact], [Barrier], [Wind Blade], [Deconstruction]

I must have gained a level some time ago. Stats went up slightly but it's very slow, I should look into why that is.

Calculating his mana spent, it looked like his [Construct Artifact] used 4532 mana, or thereabouts. As his mana slowly regenerates, about 1 mana every second he estimated, it was hard to get a precise number. Wilfred calculated that it would take close to two hours, a bit less actually, to fully recover his mana. This won't do he thought. How can I train once every hour ish, I'll not get anywhere that way.

After learning at the academy that spells and skill could level up; Wilfred was really curious how it would change his rather unique skill if it leveled up. But the amount of time he'd need to spend practicing it would be immense.

Deciding to look into his stats issue, how they weren't raising very fast, Wilfred took a trip back to the academy hoping the library was still accessible.

Seeing how he needed to wait for his Mana to recover, it was a good use of his time.

Pa.s.sing on the streets, he overheard rumors of a dangerous person in the city. Everyone was talking about how someone was almost killed by this attacker and the city guards were on the look.

Reaching the academy gates, Wilfred was pleasantly surprised that he was let through. It seemed while there were no cla.s.ses or courses, the academy was still open.

Heading straight for the library, Wilfred began looking for anything related to attributes. It wasn't long before he found a book but on something he wasn't expecting, cultivation.

While he knew there were adventurers, he wasn't sure it worked like he thought it did. He began reading the book.

Most of it were theories, a few were proven and taken as fact while some remained speculation. It turns out everyone has some potential to become a cultivator, varying greatly of course. Special training and resources allow one to shape that potential into something more. The main difference between magic and cultivation being that mages tend to take longer to develop. One could begin cultivation training as soon as they were old enough to walk if they wished but mages had to wait quite some years to see if they had any talent at all. From what Wilfred remembered, it was a shock to the Headmaster that he could use magic at 9 years old, the younger students at the academy being 13 or 14 years old.

However, mages are more versatile in what they can do. It is also easier and less expensive to train a mage. While cultivators are more abundant, all adventurers can essentially be described as cultivators even if the techniques and methods vary greatly but higher tier cultivators are rather rare. Mage adventurers are also not common but also a prized possession. Adventuring parties that have a mage benefit greatly from the support.

There are also differences in how they develop. Mages will have a Mana pool, energy contained within them that they can wield. Cultivators on the other hand don't have a Mana pool, they constantly use their Mana to imbue themselves with it, strengthening their muscles and body. For that reason, cultivators tend to live longer and have higher stats. Mages can also extend their life but one has to have the appropriate magic attribute for it.

While mages can also use magic to enhance themselves, like his [Wind Aura], those spells are only temporary.

Wilfred tried to find anything mentioning someone that was both a mage and cultivator but could not find any references to it. The book did contain some information regarding the materials cultivators used to train, such as pills and techniques but very few specific details. Such things were likely trade secrets. A lot of it seemed like alchemy, using special ingredients in a specific way to create potions or pills. There was a list of plants that cultivators used to train but no instructions as to how to prepare them.

Another thing was how kingdoms tended to favor mages due to their ability to also help with non-combat things with useful spells. A lot of the economic prosperity of a country was due to how well rooted it's mage community was. However, due to cultivators being stronger in combat except in rare cases, most n.o.bles sought to train their cultivation instead of magic. But having a mage child was a good thing too, as mages tend to be better with alchemy, allowing easier and less expensive access to potions and pills for family members.

The book also went into more details regarding general power rankings, which Wilfred appreciated. Most human adults would peak around level 10 to 15 as it gets progressively harder to increase. Cultivators could generally attain level 30 without too much problem and mages would peak around level 50. Fights between mages and cultivator vary wildly depending on preparation and battle experience but it is safe to say that a cultivator of same level as a mage vastly overpowers him due to the overwhelming difference in attributes. The author then gave himself as comparison, when he was level 27 his strength was 95 but a comparable mage would have perhaps 30 to 40 Wis or Int.

Attribute gains for an average person are around 1-2 points per attribute for each level gained. While the author did not say which technique and how, the average gain for a cultivator is around 5-7 points per attribute for each level. When Wilfred compared himself to this, he was gaining 1 to 2 points per attribute every level only.

Wilfred read more on the levels, trying to find out what caused people to level up. It turns out it's a combination of overcoming difficult challenges and using your abilities. Looking up from his reading, Wilfred realized that the day had pa.s.sed and it was now night. Seeing as how he was only roughly halfway through the book and not wanting to lose it, Wilfred checked it out by going to the secretary and asking her to borrow it. She noted down his name and which book it was he took. Being near the Headmaster's office, Wilfred peaked inside to see if the old man was still there. Seeing a small candle light lighting up the room, Wilfred noticed Primus sitting at his desk, still going through a pile of papers stacked high on his desk

Wow, being Headmaster must be hard work, he's always sitting there going through stuff. Probably takes ages since there's no computers or any kind of a.s.sistants for him.

Wilfred knocked lightly at the entrance and caught his attention.

"Oh, Wilfred, h.e.l.lo. Come in, I don't have much time though. So much to do before the academy cla.s.ses start up again. What can I do for you?"

"I see that. You should get an a.s.sistant or something."

"Oooh? How generous to offer yourself! I'll see if you can't help me with some things then."

s.h.i.+t, what did I get myself into with my loud mouth. Arghhhh!!!

"I mean, I can help yes. You might want someone with a bit more experience though. But that's not the reason of my visit, you see I've been reading this book and it talks about cultivators and mages. Is there a reason we also can't cultivate? Couldn't I do both?"

"Ahhh, it's been tried before but to no avail. You see, we're different in a way. No mage can continuously keep his spells active for days. Cultivators don't need to because they're always absorbing mana and infusing it into themselves."

"Continuously huh….that gives me an idea actually. For how long should I do it?"

"What? You do have a large amount of mana, exceptional even, but I don't think it's feasible. However, if you must try, no more than 3 days. If it hasn't worked by then, it wont."

Wilfred thanked Primus for his time and left him to his work before he remembered to ask Wilfred to help him with that mountain of paper. Leaving the academy, Wilfred headed home since it was already very late. He had an idea for a way to possibly cultivate but it would have to wait for the next day when the stores would be open.

Navigating the streets, Wilfred saw much more guards than there used to be patrolling. One of them even stopped him and asked him to be careful since there was a violent attacker on the loose in the city. Wilfred thanked him and told him he'd head straight home without any delay. When the guard mentioned to be extra careful since the first victim was a young boy whose leg was violently cut off, Wilfred fell into a cold sweat.

What!? They mean me?! d.a.m.n. I suppose I did go a bit brutal on him but he was looking for it. I'm surprised he hasn't told them it was me. Could be he's scared I'd retaliate. I'll have to lay low for a bit then.