Sora stood before the class instructor, watching a translucent window hover in his mind. He had finally done it.
[Class Unlocked: Mana Amplifier (Level 1)]
Since the start of his new life, the pace of everything had accelerated so much that he'd remained classless all the way to level 29.
'There's a twenty-eight level gap between my class and my actual level. I need to get back to the grind if I want to unlock the rest of the [Mana Amplifier] skills...'
A cocktail of exasperation and excitement bubbled in his chest. He wasn't sure if he was falling behind or if he was miles ahead of the players at his level.
'With [Prestige] and [Mana Evolution], I'll steamroll anyone at my level. No reason to think I'm behind anyone.'
Lost in his own reassurance, he completely missed the look of pure disdain on the instructor's face after he received his new class. Instead, he swiped to open the second notification.
[Skill Unlocked: Amplify]
[Type: Buff]
[Description: Amplifies the target's skill effects. The target will use your mana to boost their skills. ]
[Warning: The target cannot use mana you do not have.]
Sora scanned the description, his mind already dissecting the mechanical implications.
'Interesting,' he thought as he exited the Combat Training Center and stepped into the bustling streets of Córdoba. 'I've seen this skill in action during raids. A good Amplifier can work miracles, turning mediocre players into powerhouses. The bad ones, though... they had no clue what they were doing. Totally useless.'
He ran through the various ways players utilized the [Mana Amplifier] class.
'Most players with this class focus on self-buffing to stay competitive as a solo hunter, then switch to a pure support role in a group setting.'
In a party, they had a choice: spread the buffs across the whole team or funnel everything into the main carry, turning them into a god for the duration of the skills.
'But no matter the strategy, the line between a scrub and an elite player is always the size of their mana pool and their regen rate.'
Sora let out a small, confident smile.
'In my hands, [Amplify] isn't just a good skill. It's completely broken.'
He didn't even need to field-test it to know it could be self-targeted. In the hands of this class, self-casting [Amplify] allowed a player to supercharge their own abilities.
With his [Loved by Mana] effect permanently active, he was practically swimming in energy. His mana reserves and recovery were off the charts; he never ran dry. For anyone else, using [Amplify] was a tactical gamble, a careful choice of which ability to boost. For Sora, there was no need to overthink.
"Just this one skill makes the whole class worth choosing," he muttered to himself.
He made his way toward the Auction House. He'd stacked enough gold, capped his profession level, and secured his new class. Now, all that remained was to gear up from head to toe for the next part of his journey.
As the massive Auction Hall came into view, he reflected on how trivial it was to grind gold with his [HR Assistant] job.
'No point leaving too much money in the bank. I can always make more on the road.'
Inside, he pulled up the interface and snagged several gear sets to replace his broken equipment.
'Level 10, 20, and 30 sets with XP bonuses aren't that pricey. Let's grab those; they'll do for now.'
He finalized the purchases and threw in a few training gear sets as well, since his old ones had stopped providing any benefit once he hit level 25.
Glancing at his balance, he saw he had about 400,000 gold remaining. He hesitated for a second between a Level 40 set and items he could use immediately. After a few minutes of weighing the options, he opted for the quality-of-life items that only the "whales" or the extremely lucky could afford at his level.
'Alright, let's pick up some monster radars. Ten level 50 radars should be enough, and one level 100 for down the line.' Monster radars were essentially blank maps powered by mana to detect threats within a specific range. A Level 50 radar could ping anything up to Level 60, while the Level 100 version tracked everything up to Level 120.
He dropped 100,000 gold on the first ten and another 100,000 on the high-quality unit. Next, he navigated to the [Trump Cards] section, picking out a few items he hoped would act as his get-out-of-jail-free cards.
'One invisibility card, one strength, one speed, and five home cards. That should cover the basics for now.'
Sora immediately activated two [Home Cards] to save his current coordinates, ensuring he could warp back to Córdoba if things went south. He tucked the remaining cards into his inventory.
Shopping trip complete, he left the Auction House and headed for the bank to offload anything he didn't need in his active slots. To ensure he could return to Córdoba at any time—in this life or the next—he stashed one [Home Card] in his personal vault and kept the other on him, alongside a blank one for future use.
He considered depositing the remaining 150,000 gold, but then he spotted a bank teller renting out a high-tier dimensional storage item to another player.
He didn't hesitate. He dropped 100,000 gold on a high-quality spatial bag with a 1,000-ton capacity and 10,000 stack slots. He deposited the remaining 50,000 gold into his account and walked out of the bank.
Equipped and fully prepared, Sora headed back into the wilds. His map, newly updated and detailed with level zones, showed him exactly where he needed to go.
'A Level 30–39 zone first,' he thought. It was the perfect playground for testing his new class.
"I'll farm for a week and then head back to the city," he muttered as he cleared the gates of Córdoba. "I need to level up my class, master these new skills, and once I return, I'll focus on grinding my job level."
Sora was itching to see how his new class held up in real combat. 'If [Amplify] ends up being a letdown, I'll just power-level through and find a skill or two that actually works.'
He ignored the low-level monsters near the road, keeping a steady pace until he reached the deeper sections of the zone. Pulling out his [Monster Radar], he infused it with mana. The parchment flared to life, glowing as ink-like red dots bled across the surface to represent nearby threats. It displayed names, levels, and even rarity rankings.
Small packs of beasts roamed the immediate area, their levels hovering between 34 and 36.
'Perfect for a test.' Sora focused, unsheathed his sword, and triggered [Amplify].
Mana surged within him like, moving from his dantian, and flooding his body. He felt a strange sensation as the energy searched for a target to latch onto.
"Calm down. No allies to buff yet… just me," he whispered to the roiling energy.
After a short sprint, Sora spotted a pack of mutated wolves in the distance, creatures built for pure speed. Ruthless, Sora didn't give his prey any warning. He funneled the energy of [Amplify] into himself and triggered [Mana Sweep].
[Mana Sweep] activated, his mana flowing from his dantian to his sword just like every other time he attacked. However, while he was used to a very specific amount of energy for this technique, Sora was startled by the sword's voracity—it wouldn't stop drinking.
'So that's how it works?' Feeling the mana drain, he grinned, even though he had to delay his strike for a heartbeat to accommodate the intake.
The technique kept pumping his energy right up until the moment of activation. During Sora's brief moment of focus, several wolves managed to leap back or scramble to the sides, but he wasn't disappointed when he saw the effect of the skill.
[Mana Sweep] manifested as a wave of energy twice as powerful as anything he'd cast before.
'And it covers twice the angle!' Sora watched in awe as the energy wave tore through the entire dispersed pack. Even the wolves that had retreated couldn't escape the massive reach of the blow.
Sora reactivated [Amplify] and targeted a wolf lunging at him, finishing it with a powered-up [Mana Strike].
[Level Up!]
The notification momentarily distracted Sora as he hit Level 30. Seeing the remaining beasts at death's door, he quickly swapped his gear to his new sets before re-engaging to finish the job. During the next few strikes, mana poured out of his body at twice the usual rate, but he didn't even break a sweat.
'[Mana Evolution] is absolutely broken...' he thought.
Relying on a skill designed to support entire parties, Sora decimated a pack of a dozen wolves in just two hits. He ignored his experience bar—which was filling at a satisfying clip—and focused entirely on his mana consumption.
'I almost wiped them out with a single [Mana Sweep]. That's insane. Without it, I'd be dancing with these things for minutes.'
"One skill made this possible…" he said, looking at the faint blue traces of [Amplify] still on his blade. "In my hands, this class is so much more than it was ever meant to be."
Eager to see the effect of [Amplify] on the rest of his kit, he headed toward the next group of monsters his radar had pinged a while ago.
[Mana Mirage], [Mana Piercer], [Mana Strike], [Mana Sweep]. He cycled through his techniques one after another. He tried to chain them in quick succession, but no group survived more than two hits. He actually found himself discouraged by how sparse the monsters were in this zone.
'Before my reset, I always thought the wilds were overcrowded... but now that I have a supreme skill, it's depressing to see how spread out they are...' He checked his experience bar and saw he was still at Level 30. Despite the level gap between him and the mobs, the experience requirements spiked massively every ten levels.
"I need to go deeper," Sora muttered, eyes fixed on the horizon.
He hunted for several hours, systematically reaping every monster in his path. Every time he activated [Amplify], there was a slight delay in his skill activation, but he was already beginning to internalize the new rhythm.
Within an hour, he had gained enough class experience to unlock his next milestone.
[Skill Unlocked: Echo Strike (Level 1)]
[Description: The Amplifier channels mana into his weapon to deal increased damage. The more allies the Amplifier has buffed, the more powerful this strike becomes. ]
[Effect: +10% damage per ally who has one of your buffs.]
Sora shook his head. "The math on this is insane, but as long as I'm solo, it's useless. However, if I were to join a group..."
The potential of [Echo Strike] set his mind racing. He could envision a full raid scenario: buffing an entire team and then unleashing a strike with a massive multiplier. In a large group, he wouldn't just be a support; he'd be the hypercarry.
'But is it only useful for parties? I need to know.' He spotted a stray beast ahead.
Sora cast [Amplify] on himself before activating [Echo Strike], channeling the mana into his sword. He swung, connecting with a solid hit.
The strike landed on a weak point, but the impact was underwhelming. At its base level, [Echo Strike] was roughly equivalent to a beginner Swordsman's [Sword Strike]—it couldn't even touch his [Mana Strike]. Still, he analyzed the result critically. It was only Level 1, after all.
"Alright," Sora muttered as the monster collapsed. "It's weak now, but if I buffed even a few people... What if I buffed ten? That's a 100% damage increase. If I can evolve this like my other skills, I can make an overpowered version of [Echo Strike]."
He tapped his sword against a nearby boulder, the metal ringing in the quiet woods. 'Sure, it's not matching my other skills yet, but the ceiling for this skill is through the roof.' The possibilities continued to unfold as Sora set off in search of a new target, eager to unlock new skills.