The Place Where Everything Begins

Name - Forsaken Branch

Rank - Rare

Ability:

1. Increase magic attack by 8%

2. Increase mana absorption rates by 9%

3. Decrease spell casting time by 8%

4. Decrease mana required to cast spell by 7%

Skill:

1. [Life Force I - Active] - Convert the user's mana into a target's life force (Cooldown 2 days)

2. [Soothing Mind - Passive] - Upon carrying this staff, the user's mind would be calm and serene.

Note - A rare-rank staff with diverse kinds of wooden materials from many old trees, created by a great mage from Earth.

...

Upon seeing such an OP, aka overpowered stats of his first staff, Jeremy felt very proud, making him smile satisfactorily...

Upon inspecting the staff's stats for a whole minute, Jeremy thought in ponder to himself,

'Good... As I've thought, the Forsaken Branch's four abilities are exactly what I want. Even though the two skills can only be considered so-so, they still have some uses in a contingency situation. Also, the 'Note'... Hmm... created by a great mage from Earth? Well... anything is good, I think.'

Then Jeremy shifted the topic within his thought into another one,

'By the way... it seems the [Analyze] skill gives out the same status layout as the 'Inspect' skill I had in my past life. Hmm...? Or the reason why I can view all of the Forsaken Branch's information is because I create it? This case usually happens, though...'

'After all, I'm pretty sure if I use the current [Analyze] on another rare-rank item, I can only receive half of the item's information. In the first place, this skill is only at the low-basic rank...'

Jeremy thought fleetingly while lifting the staff to inspect here and there to see if it had any blemish on its body or not, and he continued doing so for quite some time...

It seemed like Jeremy was not done admiring his own masterpiece, aka baby just yet...

...

Some minutes later...

At the rip-off Zodia Arena, three corpses comprised of two human warriors and one yellow skin outlander laid sparsely...

Meanwhile, a black-cloaked man was seen standing in the centermost area while looking composedly at the metal gate in front of him.

The man in black looked serene, yet he was exuding out a mysterious and intimidating 'intent' originating from his very own being.

The man in question was obviously Jeremy; within his right hand was a wooden staff with vines coiling along the axle. On the staff's top area was a flawless-looking golden orb.

At this time, the spacious arena was completely quiet without any sound from the audience, bird, insect, or anything. The only sound Jeremy could hear was his own rhythmical breathing and heart-thumping sounds.

The current calm and serene atmosphere didn't last that long, though...

It would become chaotic and hectic soon enough...

Not long after, the mechanism sounds suddenly rang out within the quiet arena...

*Creaks!*

*Chrrrick* *Chrrrick*

*Chrrrick* *Chrrrick*

The said noises obviously originated from the metal gate in front of Jeremy...

*Fwuu...*

Upon seeing the gate finally open up, the long-awaiting Jeremy heaved out a long breath of hot air from his mouth and thought to himself with a hardened expression,

'I'm ready...'

At last, our former sage would finally get a chance to play with his toy...

Having thought so, Jeremy controlled the mana particles from his three dantians towards the Forsaken Branch.

To be exact, he commanded them towards the golden orb above the staff...

Then the golden orb on the staff's topmost area promptly lit up after being injected with Jeremy's purest mana.

Afterward, Jeremy moved the wooden staff left and right as if he was writing something in the air, creating the white afterglow everywhere the round orb went past.

As of now, Jeremy was mumbling some almost-inaudible words in an unknown language...

Specifically, he was chanting one of the many magical languages, which was used to complement the runescripts he was writing via the orb right now.

As a result, the combination of mana, mind power, incantation, and runescripts would create something magical called 'Spell' as a final product...

Even though after tier-2 spell onwards would require a much more complex method of spell casting, but with the special tier-0 spell Jeremy was casting now, the incantation and runewords were more than enough to cast it.

*Mumble* *Mumble*

At this time, when Jeremy was standing still and mumbling sonorously at the arena's center, from within the dark passageway behind the metal gate came a walking footstep sound of someone...

Well, it seemed to be a very 'heavy' someone at that...

*Tak* *Tak*

*Tak* *Tak*

With each step the 'heavy' creature took, the ground seemed to shake along with it...

Not long after, the heavy-foot being finally came out from the passageway and was shone upon by the light from the sky generated from an unknown source.

"Woahhh!!!"

"KILLLL!!!"

"Kill him!!!"

"We want blood!!!"

After the quiet audiences from earlier saw another gladiator come out for a bloody battle, they became so rowdy and excited, so they shouted out the incessant cheering towards the two gladiators below...

Meanwhile, Jeremy, who was chanting words and writing runes, shifted his eyes from the metal gate towards the creature ahead of him in curiosity...

Even while his mouth was chanting and his hand was drawing, Jeremy still had leisure time to evaluate his opponent.

Upon seeing the opponent he would be fighting soon enough, Jeremy wondered in amazement and also belittlement,

'Not a human again? It is just a hobgoblin warrior...? Oh, wait... don't tell me...'

However, Jeremy had to change his attitude soon enough...

"GROAAAA!!!"

Upon coming out of the dark passageway, the hobgoblin warrior roared deafeningly to the bright sky above its head...

For a moment, the cheering sounds seemed to be drowned out completely by the so-called hobgoblin's prior roar.

It was loud and filled with power...

At this time, Jeremy had finally finished preparing the spell while he was using his mind power to control and suppress, not letting the said spell be activated just yet because he wanted to wait for the most suitable opportunity to unleash it.

Thus, Jeremy used this free time to start scrutinizing his enemy from head to toe....