Jean floated lazily in the pond, surrounded by thick foliage that rustled gently in the faint breeze. The water was pleasantly cool, just enough to soothe her skin without making her shiver. Her thick, long red hair spread out behind her, drifting like silk across the surface. Her freshly washed robes hung over a nearby branch by the fire, drying in the warm air.

  "I've earned this," she murmured. It felt good to finally relax. The last few days in the System had been relentless. She masked the weight of it all behind sarcasm and quick wit, but the truth was—this world was wearing her down.

  As her thoughts began to spiral into darker territory, Jean gave herself a brisk shake and immediately pulled up the skill choice prompt, clicking 'yes' without hesitation.

  "Classic Jean—just shove it down and power through. That always works out great," she quipped aloud, laughing, though the humor rang a little too true.

  Skills available:

  [Mage Hand – Common]: Conjure a translucent, spectral hand formed from mana. It can manipulate objects, open containers, or perform simple tasks within a short range. While minimally effective in combat, it excels at utility and fine control. Skill effectiveness scales with Intellect.

  "Now that could be handy," Jean muttered, then groaned and covered her face with one hand. "Did I seriously just make that pun? Gods, I'm really losing it."

  Still drifting in the small pond, Jean considered the possible uses—but came up short. It sounded cool, sure, but she didn’t exactly have a pressing need for a magical extra hand right now. On to the next skill.

  [Mana Wave – Common]: Unleash a burst of raw mana that radiates outward in a short-radius circle, damaging all nearby enemies. Skill damage scales with Intellect.

  Jean blinked at the description, unimpressed. "So basically—panic sneeze, but with sparkles. Pass." She let out a sigh and moved on. "Big booms aren't really my style," she said, waving one hand dismissively at the prompt. "Unless they come with flair."

  [Fire Bolt – Uncommon]: Conjure a concentrated ball of flame that can be launched at a target or manually detonated mid-flight. Skill damage scales with Intellect. (By choosing this skill, you will lose access to Mana Bolt.)

  "I roast one car-sized tortoise and suddenly I'm a pyromaniac?" Jean muttered, rolling her eyes. She clicked the prompt and chose Fire Bolt. "No use pretending otherwise now."

  Jean leapt to her feet in the waist-high water, the surface rippling around her. She had to try her new skill—no way she was waiting.

  She raised her damp hand, and a single spark flickered to life in her palm. It pulsed, small and timid at first, but quickly threads of glowing red began to coil and converge. The orb grew steadily, stabilizing into a sphere the size of a baseball, glowing with a rich, molten orange.

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  Heat radiated from it—not searing, but comforting. The warmth soaked into her skin, like holding a sun-kissed stone. It felt alive. And oddly... reassuring.

  As she stood gazing into the flickering bolt, something shimmered within—faint at first, like a ripple beneath the surface. Then it clicked into focus, a shape or movement she couldn't quite explain, but one that felt oddly familiar.

  The bolt began to swell, red streaks twisting outward, soon joined by tendrils of blue, green, purple, white—even a flicker of black. It shimmered like a living rainbow, casting dazzling light across the pond until it became nearly blinding.

  Jean no longer felt just warmth. There was something deeper—contradictory and overwhelming. The fire was cold and hot, comforting and terrifying. In it, she felt echoes of life and whispers of death. The sensation wasn’t pain or joy, but something in between—hypnotic, primal, and impossible to ignore.

  Jean released it. The bolt flew, leaving her clearing in a blink, traveling fast until it hit a tree—and then, bang.

  The blast hurled Jean through the air like a ragdoll, crashing her into the water with a splash that echoed through the grove. The shockwave rolled out in all directions, toppling not just one tree—but nearly twenty, collapsing like dominos in a storm.

  As Jean emerged from the water, she froze—eyes wide as the scale of destruction settled in.

  The forest ahead was scorched, trees reduced to skeletal husks. A vast stretch of blackened earth smoldered where vibrant green had once stood. It wasn’t just a blast—it was a crater of devastation.

  "Okay... I have to admit," Jean said, brushing wet hair from her face as she surveyed the carnage, "when I go big, I really go big."

  Then her vision began to glitch—pixels distorting, warping the edges of the world around her. Jean panicked. She wasn’t in pain, but something was wrong. Had she hit her head?

  The skill box appeared in her vision again:

  [Fire Bolt – Uncommon]: Conjure a concentrated ball of flame that can be launched at a target or manually detonated mid-flight. Skill damage scales with Intellect.

  Then the letters began to melt—sliding, warping, reshaping themselves as if the very code of the System was being rewritten before her eyes. They weren’t just changing—they were evolving.

  [Phoenix Feather – Legacy]: Conjure and launch a magical feather infused with Phoenix Flame. Each color of flame alters the spell’s element and effect. Scales with Intellect and Wisdom. (This skill is only obtainable by members of the Phoenix race.)

  Skill Acquired:

  [Phoenix Flame – Red – Unique]: A passive skill granting access to the Red Phoenix Flame. Fire-based abilities infused with this flame gain enhanced burning properties, inflicting lingering burn status effects that are significantly more difficult to cleanse or resist.

  Every god stilled as the mana signature surged—radiating outward, threading through every corner of the System like a beacon too potent to ignore.

  A single tear fell from the eye of the great flaming bird, its feathers rippling through a kaleidoscope of colors in response to the mana surge—each hue resonating with the energy as if echoing the birth of something ancient and powerful.

  "Is that truly you, my love? After all this time..." The Phoenix God’s voice trembled with awe, its radiant form leaning closer to the unfolding energy.

  Jean’s vision cleared, blinking away the static. What the hell had just happened? And... whose voice was that?

  If the gods hadn't been paying attention to this tutorial before, they certainly were now.

  But for Jean, the explosion had caught the attention of more than just the gods. They found her.