Chapter 71: Sequences

"Having some problems in choosing skills?" Yeri asked in an amused tone.

"Hmm…" Rewen nodded. "Do you have any recommendations?"

"Definitely! But you didn't choose a section yet. Choose a section first, then I'll help in choosing a good skill."

Rewen tilted his head to look at Svety who shook her head. 'This is really difficult. Whatever, I'll just go with this.' He mused, then tapped on [Custom].

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Are you sure you want to buy this skill?

[Y/N]

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"What the fuck! I didn't even choose a skill."

Tervon chuckled. "[Custom] is [Custom]. It is a skill. Not a category of skill."

"Ho… is it like, I can customize my skill however I want?"

"Short answer, yes. Long answer, you can't customize however you want." 

"What do you mean?" Rewen and Svety appeared confused.

Yeri coughed, trying to bring their attention towards her. "[Custom] is an one-of-a-kind skill which lets you create your own cool skills with no limitations. Well, there are limitations but to some extent, you can create whatever you want if you have a <Purpose> in creating the skill."

"By <Purpose>, you mean that I have to have some sort of motive to create the skill?"

"Indeed. The <Purpose> shouldn't be half-hearted and you must be extremely single-minded when trying to create the skill."

"With just a purpose, we can create any kind of skills?" Svety found it a bit hard to believe.

"Of course, it's not that simple. There are also <Sequences> which needs to be triggered after having a fixed <Purpose>. Then, the "alpha" stage followed by the "beta" stage which you should have learned about." 

"<Sequences> sound difficult." Rewen honestly said. He felt like he was knowing things too quickly that his brain couldn't keep with the information.

Yeri sighed. "Have you heard about Mana Points?"

"Oh yeah, I know of it."

"How many Mana Points are there?"

"Five Primary Mana Points, thirty-six Secondary Mana Points and 40 Auxiliary Mana Points."

"What is their purpose?"

"They store and carry mana."

"How does mana travel from one part of the body to the other?"

"Mana jumps from one point to another."

"Why is it 'jump' and not 'transfer'?"

"Because the speed at which mana 'jumps' from one point to another is three times the speed of light making it impossible for low ranked Mages to see the transfer with naked eye."

"What is the difference between Primary, Secondary and Auxiliary Mana Points?"

"Primary Mana Points are larger in size, always hold the maximum amount of mana. Their locations aren't fixed. Secondary Mana Points are smaller in size, holds some amount of mana. Their locations also aren't fixed. Auxiliary Mana Points are the smallest in size, holding leftover mana and their locations are fixed."

"Why do you say that Primary Mana Points are larger in size. Is it a physical quantity?"

Rewen wanted to answer with the classic 'Teacher said so' but when he thought about it, the question wasn't difficult to answer. "It's like mana. It's a spiritual quantity. Nobody can experiment with it but we know that it is present."

"There is more to it but your answer isn't wrong. Now, what are Innate Mana Strings?"

"They are threads which connect every Mana Point which are used to execute a skill. The thicker the thread, the better would be the execution of the skill."

"Where do they come from? Could you feel your Innate Mana Strings right now?"

"I don't know where they come from. Innate Mana Strings miraculously appear after the "alpha" stage of the skill. Why are you asking me questions though? Are the <Sequences> such a subject that I need to understand Mana Mechanics properly before I try to understand it?"

"Not really. I thought you were dumb." Yeri didn't even twitch when she said that making Tervon and Svety burst out in laughter.

"Not cool." Rewen wanted to speak against it but it was indeed true that he was dumb a few days ago. He could barely score 10% in the finals of highschool. Even now, he didn't know how he passed highschool.

"Rewen, you remember when Mr. Pokovic asked you the difference between one and one?" Svety giggled non-stop with her hand on her stomach. "Y… you said that it's hun-hundred!" She started rolling on the ground.

Tervon and Yeri were new to the tale and they showed their interest. 

Rewen couldn't help but smile. 'Being the butt of a joke sometimes doesn't hurt.' He wasn't a sensitive person and didn't feel the need to get angry over the matter because he knew that they were laughing in good humor. 

"So what are <Sequences>?" Rewen asked after the laughter died down.

"<Sequences> are… forget it you won't understand it anyways."

Rewen frowned. "What's with that? I would understand. As it's used in a Rank 0 skill, it is surely in my syllabus. Even if you don't tell you, I could surf the net." 

"You misunderstood. It's not that I'm not willing to tell you but you wouldn't understand it. It's not in your syllabus. [Custom]s are neither included nor recommended by the Academies. It's because according to various surveys, once the syllabus includes [Custom], a large number of periods are needed and that too, to understand a single skill. Not to mention, students themselves would waste too much time on this skill."

Rewen didn't completely have his questions answered but decided to be reasonable. "Then how should I learn [Custom]?"

Yeri gave a small smile. "Just because you don't understand <Sequences> doesn't mean you can't use [Custom]. How about it? Will you buy [Custom]? As a Rank 4 Mage, I won;t recommend it though. Not only is it difficult, it is also risky."

Hearing the word "risky", Rewen had second thoughts. However, at this time, Tervon opened his mouth.

"Certainly not recommended by me but I regretted not learning this skill. I'll just say that."

"Fuck it. I'll buy it. Being indecisive isn't being me." He tapped on 'Y'.

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Thank you for your purchase!

[Custom] will begin downloading shortly! Please wait… 5...4...3...2...1!

File downloaded successfully!

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"Cool. Could you send the file?" Rewen asked, looking at Yeri.

"It's complicated. I'm sending you a form, fill it up right now and send it to me."

"Why do I need to fill up a form?"

"Did you honestly think it's that easy to transfer skills from one device to another?"

"Yeah, that makes sense."

***

"Oh? It's a text file." Completing the required procedures, Rewen opened the file with bright eyes.

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Starting Sequence: P-2, S-30, P-1, A-34, S-11, P-3, A-25, P-5, S-22, A-17, S-18, S-13, P-2, P-2.

[Attack-Type Sequence]

[Defense-Type Sequence]

[Stealth Sequence]

[Evasive Sequence]

[Regenerative Sequence]

[Magic Sequence]

[Spiritual Sequence]

[Search Sequence]

[Strategic Sequence]

[Shape-Shifting Sequence]

Training Sequence: S-22, S-4, S-1, S-23, A-8, P-1, P-4, A-12.

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"What is this?" Rewen's eyes narrowed. This wasn't what he had expected to see.

"P stands for Primary, S stands for Secondary and A stands for auxiliary. To create a pattern visiting different Mana Points is what a <Sequence> really is."

"What about this is hard to understand? Forget it. There are 5 Primary Mana Points, 36 Secondary Mana POints and 40 Auxiliary Mana Points. If prefixes denote the type of Mana Points, the suffixes denote the number of the particular Mana Point. You are telling me that to start the activation of the skill, I have to visit every single Mana Point given in the 'Starting Sequence' one-by-one and after that, I have to decide what kind of skill I want to use?"

"Yes. You think it's too difficult." Seeing Rewen frown, Yeri couldn't help but ask.

Rewen's frown slowly turned into a grin. "Not at all. It's easy."

"That's the spirit."

"I have an unrelated question."

"Go ahead."

"Can anyone channel mana without having a single MP?"

"That's not possible." 

"I thought so." Rewen was confused as hell. 'Then how come my [Freestyle Knights Combat] technique works?'

[Did you forget that your body is yours? You just took the identity of the 'previous' Rewen.]

'Sure but why mention this… could it be Magic Power?'

[Unravel the mysteries on your own.]

Rewen didn't think too much about the matter and put the thoughts at the back of his head. 

After that, he went through every kind of skill.

Meanwhile, Svety, Yeri and Tervon started playing cards.

"Look at him. He's like a kid who got his new toy." Yeri was amused by Rewen's enthusiasm.

"Well, we were the same. I still remember the first day I got to learn a skill."

"Is it that big of a deal? I was a bit like 'okay, and then?' People overreact." Coming from an economically well-off family, there weren't many things that surprised her.

"You wouldn't understand." 

"You like to overreact to things."

"By the way, Svety. Why did he suddenly want to learn a skill? I'm not really convinced at the answer he gave. Surely there must be something."

"He says that he is planning to be an Official and he plans to start preparing for it early."