Jason headed straight for his log house. A lot of thoughts were swirling in his head.
"I lost a hand-to-hand sparring with a six-year-old, I'm a terrible wimp by the standards of this village."
"Don't feel sorry for yourself, we'll find a solution to this." – he heard the voice of the raven in his head.
"Jason, there are different ways to train, one is to level up, the other is to actually work on increasing your stats. It is true that defeating opponents and completing complex tasks develops the fastest, but this is not the only way, especially when it comes to physical statistics." – The raven pointed out to him.
"Remember, in less than a hundred days you will lose your system, how do you think you will become physically stronger then? After all, you will no longer be able to assign any points..."
"I don't know..." – Jason realized that there had to be another way to develop besides leveling, especially since people like Firlo or Enzo didn't have any system, and you couldn't deny their strength.
"I'll tell you, simple physical training will make you gain strength, endurance and dexterity, and learning and meditation will be able to develop your intelligence. Your soul is saturated with mana, so any workout you do will be much more effective than that of an ordinary person."
"But Firlo or Enzo don't use mana, and you can't deny their strength, why?" He asked his companion.
"Just because they don't cast spells doesn't mean they don't use mana. Many of the people I've seen in this village use mana, just in a different way than you. Although even here I have seen people who are completely deprived of it."
"Can you see things like that?" Jason asked curiously.
"Yes, the shopkeeper we were at had virtually no mana, but Enzo has the most saturated soul of any person I've ever seen here. For now, I am not able to assess the development potential of a person, but over time, when they advance with you to the next levels, this should change. I can see that you have a small amount of mana in you, but I don't know how far you can develop it."
"And who is stronger at this point, me or Firlo?" – He asked, hoping that he would turn out to be stronger.
"At this point, you have a similar amount of mana saturation of your soul, but that can change. Firlo is still very young, and you only gained mana after you were in this world, so your potential is probably much greater than I see it now."
"Similar, huh? I'm at the level of a 6-year-old, great. Hmm, so I didn't have mana in my world?" – Jason thought disappointed, hoping that I would turn out to be at least a little stronger.
"No, you only gained it after you got here. Move on to the important things, as I mentioned, because you have gained mana, your development will be much faster than before. As you may have already noticed, you need to strengthen yourself physically, it's true that you have pets, we can support you in battle, but that's no reason to be completely helpless without us.
I have two tasks for you, first of all, use your stay here to strengthen your body, strength, speed and endurance – you will achieve this through physical training. I think you can handle this part on your own at this stage.
The second thing that will definitely help you survive is learning how to use a weapon. So you won't be helpless even without us by your side or when you run out of mana. What's more, you'll be able to support us in combat directly, not just with spells."
"Hey, but am I not a mage?" – Jason was slightly offended.
"Yes, but not a typical one, summoners use familiars to support them in and out of combat, but they also take part in the fight themselves. Ordinary mages usually have the ability to dodge combat and powerful defensive spells that you are unlikely to use."
"If I have mana, I can't learn them?"
"With a lot of work and effort, you probably do, but you have to remember that you are, how to say, in tune with certain skills better than with others. Let's say that Enzo with a very mana-saturated soul would like to learn a spell, theoretically it is possible, but it would probably take a very long time, and the effects would not be even partially as good as someone resonating with a given type of magic."
"A certain kind of magic?" – Jason's head began to steam from the excess of information – "I don't understand anything anymore, I can learn everything, but not everything is worth learning?"
"Exactly, I'm here to help you with that. For the time being, I am not able to see your way of resonating with magic, so let's focus on the physical aspects, and when I reach a higher level, we will think about the direction in which your magical development should be directed. Your class is a summoner, so investing skill points into making your familiars stronger will be a good idea as well."
"Sure, so I understand that we start intensive training tomorrow?"
"Exactly, eat well to recuperate after the fight, and tomorrow we start work!"
Jason set about preparing the meal, took off his dirty and bloody clothes. The new shirt and pants were not to be ready until the next day, it was good that it was warm enough in his new hut.
The boy took a plate, which he filled with the meat of a larger eren enriched with a few vegetables that he had bought today in the village. The stew tasted delicious, much better than meat roasted over an open fire, although that was also good.
Suddenly, he felt himself regaining energy at a fast pace, and all physical and mental fatigue was subsiding. Jason felt very surprised. After a few minutes, he felt fully rested, which was also confirmed by his system's screen.