Our footsteps reverberate off the cold, musty stone. We’ve been walking down for about a minute now, and I see a growing glow of light radiating from the bottom—we’re almost there. The stairs finally come to an end as the tight quarters open into an expansive library with doors set into each of the three other walls. Massive stone bookshelves line the walls, each filled floor to ceiling with scrolls, books, tomes, and stone tablets.

  I stand in awe of the amount of mana radiating off each of the bookshelves—flooding my senses and bathing me in its cool embrace. The air feels primeval, and I feel as if I just stepped into an ancient church, surrounded by sacred relics of the past. Almost lost in the clutter of mana, my attention is drawn to a crystal orb sitting on a large table in the middle of the room. Mallorc has already moved across the room and taken a seat at one of the luxurious armchairs flanking the orb. Catching my eye, he signals for me to come take a seat beside him.

  “Welcome to the Sage’s Library, Cam. This is the accumulation of knowledge from me and all prior Tea Sages. When you go out into the world, we hope that you continue the sagacious path with a deep desire to accumulate more knowledge and understanding—not only of the world, but of our Class and—of course—tea.”

  Lost for words, I can only nod as my eyes continue to adventure throughout the room. My mind doesn’t even begin to comprehend what each of these scrolls could contain and the centuries of knowledge that has been below my feet all along. I feel a tinge of jealousy and anger that Mallorc hasn’t been sharing this information with me all along. That feeling quickly passes as I remember the System Promise and the Old Man’s look of guilt. I know he’s been wanting to share this with me, but no one other than the System knew if I would actually be offered Tea Sage.

  My focus is grabbed by a small wave as he continues speaking. “Today, we are going to test your compatibility with our archive of inheritances and you will pick one to begin training. This is a very important decision and should take a lot of consideration. Changing your path takes a lot of time and effort and could have negative effects on your previous efforts. To start, place your hand on the crystal and begin pushing your mana into it. This will take some time, but don’t stop supplying mana until I tell you. Any questions before we begin?”

  Excitement bubbling over and too many questions to even worry about at the moment, I shake my head. “I have a million questions, but there is nothing I want to do right now more than start training. Can I begin channeling mana?”

  He nods his head and I excitedly reach out my hand, feeling the cool smoothness of the crystal and the current of ancient power swirling smoothly just under its surface. I focus my mind, calling on my body to push the new source of mana within me to project from my hand into the orb. I feel the current within me flowing through my body with every inhalation and can sense the small amount I exhale into this mana-dense chamber. I attempt to grab the flow of mana and push it—nothing happens. I strain trying to push this immovable force and feel beads of sweat running down my neck from the mental exercise before Mallorc stops me.

  “I was expecting one of your questions to be, ‘how do I channel mana.’” He chuckles, “But when you didn’t ask I figured you might have learned something about it during your meditation visions. Looks like I was wrong and you were just too excited to see the first hurdle.”

  I blush embarrassedly. “Um, I thought it would just be as easy as telling my body to do it, but it won’t flex at all to my will.”

  He smiles. “No, if only it were that simple. Do a quick exercise for me. Mentally ask your body to activate Tea Connoisseur.”

  I take a deep breath and, exhaling, mentally command my body. ‘Activate Tea Connoisseur’. I feel my mana change its circulation to flow to my eyes. The room begins to glow with some items on the bookshelves blindingly glowing while others hold a soft glow. I also notice a small cabinet at the side of the room that I didn’t notice earlier. It’s lit up various colorings swirling in and around it in a way none of the bookshelves were.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  The Old Man followed my gaze to the cabinet. “To move your mana, you do not need to tame it or control the flow manually. You just need to make the mental command for it to follow. Don’t forget to deactivate your ongoing Skill if you haven’t already done so.”

  Deactivate Tea Connoisseur. I wait to feel the mana return to its original orbit before returning my gaze to the crystal. Channel mana through my hand into the crystal orb. Responding even quicker than activating my skill the first time, I feel the comfort of mana flowing from my fingers and palms into the orb. After about a minute of channeling, I feel lightheaded. My body feels heavier than normal and my thoughts feel sluggish. As I struggle to make my mouth cooperate to voice my concerns, the orb flashes a deep forest green.

  “Remove your hand now, Cam.” Mallorc hurriedly commands.

  I rip my hand away quickly and mentally command my mana to return to its normal flow. I take a deep breath and the lethargic feeling begins to fade away. He pats me on the shoulder and hands me a canteen. I take a long drink of the ice-cold water and clarity starts burning away the mental fog.

  “What happened? I felt like I was going to pass out and I’m so tired.”

  “That was mana exhaustion.” He returns to his seat and looks at the crystal orb. “While your Skill levels are still low, it will be hard to move your mana too much. As you get stronger your well of mana should grow and it will be a lot easier to use magic tools in the future. The same goes for all newly awakened individuals.”

  He sets his hand on the orb and I can feel a river of mana flow from his hand—more passing into the orb in just a few seconds than I could have ever fed it. The orb flashes a crimson red and multiple items on the bookshelves began to thrum a matching red. From the corner of my eye, I see the Old Man lost in thought—I don’t know if it is nostalgia or pride. He seems to shake off the thought and stands to quickly grab six glowing objects and lay them out on the table in front of us.

  “The orb has determined that these six inheritances are good for your current foundation. These are just the first part of the inheritance. Some will have later steps, some may not have progressed before the Sage creating them died. Not all inheritances are created equal and you will have to make a choice for where you want to start. Just because there isn’t a later step now, doesn’t mean you can’t develop later steps and continue progressing it.”

  Still slightly lightheaded, I have a hard time following exactly what he was saying. “So some of these have clearer requirements for future growth and others will need to be experimented with more to progress?”

  He nods. “Exactly, for example my inheritance had a detailed progression through the second tier of Tea Sage. Based on my own experiences and research I was able to push it through to the boundary before fourth tier.”

  I’m immediately surprised that the Old Man is a peak Tier Three Awakened. I didn’t truly consider how powerful this Class could be other than what the Old Man has said. My heart catches in my chest as I struggle to find myself worthy of an opportunity to become one of the strongest awakened in the kingdom. In Verdance, tier three is strong enough to lead a major portal guild with Katrina’s dad being only at the beginning of tier three himself.

  I resolve myself to be worthy of this chance. As much as I’ve devoted myself to training in this last week, I will push even further to reach tier three like Master. I will show that no matter who you are, with the right resources and diligence you can become a master respected by all.

  I look at the six objects before me. Four of the six are books, all at varying stages of age and decay. The second-to-last object is a small hand shovel and the final one is a clay Kirin about the size of my palm.

  “Go ahead and pick each object and focus on its presence and the System will give you a brief description of the inheritance for you to decide if it matches what you want.”

  I nod and can’t stop myself from reaching for the first book. Feeling its weight in my hand, I turn my focus to the book. My heart stutters, then a chime sounds inside my skull—resonant and undeniable.

  -INHERITANCE DISCOVERED-