Four weeks passed by in a flash, and rlin found himself a day away from Prestige Academy’s assessnt exam, which he had been notified of weeks ago.
Nora hadn’t exactly been bothered when the mail had co in; it was not like she’d had to hurry up with anything in particular, after all, seeing as she could already cast spells up to Tier II. So, to her, it had just been like receiving a mail of the pick up of an order she had made.
To rlin, however, it had been a wake up call—if he had not already been woken up before. And he did well to follow through, making sure the rest of his days didn’t see him slacking, which brought him to being so engrossed in his training and practice that he’d had little to no ti for anything else.
“I still don’t get how boxing is ant to help you pass a Mage exam,” Sunny said as another of rlin’s jab struck his pad. “I thought you were learning it as a hobby and for self defence? How did we get to it relating to a Mage exam?”
rlin was still a bit sensitive about giving Sunny the real reason for that, because he didn’t want to be laughed at. All he’d told the ginger-haired man was that he really needed to be good at it to so extent before the exam. But he thought that maybe now would be a good ti to at least give so sort of plausible reason for forcing Sunny to keep up with his eagerness, even if it was a lie. After all, Sunny had been asking him that question continually for weeks.
“It’s because I’m not really sure if I’ll be able to continue if I get into the Academy, or even otherwise,” rlin muttered with heavy breaths, careful so as to not bite his tongue, while throwing a sequence of two jabs and a cross, all landing on the strike pad Sunny wore.
“Eh… I doubt that,” said Sunny, flexing his muscles as they both took a second’s break. “I’ve never t a Mage who didn’t have hobbies outside of their Academy or whatever.”
rlin blinked as he closed the gap between both of them again, sweat dripping from his brows and soaking his shirt. “You’ve got a lot of Mage friends?”
Sunny licked his lips as rlin’s strikes connected with his pads again. “Nah. I’ve got no friend that’s a Mage. Just acquaintances.”
rlin felt offended. He’d thought that with all the ti they’d spent in the company of one another these past few weeks they’d beco more than just acquaintances. Janeth, for one, had been more than happy to include rlin and Nora in her friend’s list as quickly as possible. Granted, that list was not particularly long, but still…
In fact, rlin didn’t want to keep shut about it.
“I thought we were friends,” he said, throwing an uppercut that was aptly blocked. “I’m hurt.”
“Don’t be,” Sunny smiled. “You’re not yet a Mage now, are you?”
rlin scoffed. “I guess you’re right.” He struck again.
The boxing gym they were in was not a standard one in any way, and it would never be licensed by an athletic commission even if the world was coming to an end a second ti. After all, it was just Sunny’s musty garage where he kept his bikes—apparently, bikes were one of the things he loved—refurbished to hold a couple punching bags, a small area to fit what could be called a ring, and a few dumbbells, which baffled rlin.
He had thought that Sunny hated those so-called tals like Janeth had claid he did. But when he had asked, Sunny had told him that it was not like he hated weights and all, it was just that he was not obsessed with them. And, besides, he wouldn’t be a very good boxer if he didn’t train his strength and power, would he? It was an answer rlin had been pleased with; and slowly he had beco pleased with training in Sunny’s garage as well, feeling more and more at ho as the days trickled by.
“We’re back!” Janeth hooted as she and Nora walked into the garage, plastic bags in both their hands.
“You’re still going at it?” Nora asked with a frown, her question directed at rlin. “You know tomorrow’s the assessnt, right? What good would it be if you wear yourself out now?”
“I’m not wearing myself out,” rlin argued as he wiped sweat off his forehead. “I’m practicing.”
“Yeah; until you drop dead, right? Sa difference.”
This was why he had been against her coming with him. She had complained so much the first ti that he had completely stopped her from coming with him whenever he had his evening boxing lessons. This ti, though, Janeth had wanted all of them together…for so reason.
“Now, now. Let’s eat first before you guys argue,” Janeth said with a smile, shaking the plastic bag in the air before moving over to a corner to set the things they’d bought in place.
“Thank you,” Sunny said with relief. “This guy’s stamina is no joke. It’s like he never gets tired.”
“I know right,” Janeth supported. “You should see him during the day; always raring to go. It’s always like I’m gonna lose my mind.”
rlin flushed. He had not realized that he was stressing Janeth out. She should have just told him, he would have either dialed down his obsession with training, or just moved out of her way to continue on his own.
“Geez… She’s joking, rlin,” Nora sighed with a shake of her head as she noticed rlin’s expression change. “You take everything to heart too much.”
“I do not.” rlin’s head jerked back slightly. “I just don’t like being a bother to anyone.”
“Huh?” Janeth blinked owlishly. “Wait. Oh, no, rlin. I was not trying to say you were. Nora’s right; I was just joking.”
“Uhm… Where’s my extra spicy chicken?” Sunny asked with furrowed brows as he rummaged through the plastic bags. The ongoing conversation was none of his concern. “Muscle-woman, you didn’t get my extra spicy chicken?!”
“Shut it, quack,” Janeth shot back. “Can’t you see I’m talking to soone?”
rlin appreciated the shift in topic, and exhaled with a drop of his shoulders. He then took off his gloves and sat down in what seed to be his designated spot.
“Here.” Nora slid a take-out his way, followed by a can of juice.
“Thank you,” replied rlin.
“I seriously think you should take a break now,” she continued. “You’ve been at it for weeks, at least make use of the rest of today to take a breather and rest up in preparation for tomorrow. I’m serious; you’ll break down at this rate.”
rlin nodded. She was right. He too believed he had been overexerting his muscles for the past four weeks now, tripling how much workout he did in a day. He knew that the only reason he had been able to carry on was because he always made use of his free Attribute Points as so sort of pain reliever. However, he knew that continuing in such a manner was probably a bad idea. It was like taking sleeping pills regularly, its nasty side effects were bound to co. If he went on with his ways, it would be bad for him.
After all, it was not like the points healed the damages or stress in his muscles, they only dampened it for the mont they were used. His muscles still needed to fix themselves on their own, as was human nature. He couldn’t have all his accumulated stress hitting straight at his core one day.
rlin was glad, though, he had at least progressed so much because of that.
He pulled out his phone and clicked on the blue eye icon that represented his System’s app, as he picked up one of the chicken wings that made up his pack, and dipped it into his mouth.
[BIO-DATA]
NA: rlin Tyrrell
AGE: 17
MAGE CLASS: Deficient
SYSTEM CLASS: ???
[ATTRIBUTES]
STRENGTH: LV. 8
AGILITY: LV. 10
INTELLIGENCE: LV. 3
PERCEPTION: LV. 6
RESILIENCE: LV. 13
[PERKS]:
Reader Mage: Analyze and deconstruct spells, rendering magic completely ineffective against you. Current Intelligence Level remains significantly low. Not all spells can be deconstructed.
[Blue Quests ongoing (2):
Strengthen your body, rlin Tyrrell. (The strength of a Mage not only lies in their prowess with magic, but also in their physicality. A better body makes a better Mage.)
Be clear of mind and spirit, rlin Tyrrell. (If you are quiet enough, you will hear the flow of the universe. You will feel its rhythm. Go with this flow. ditation is key. A better mind and soul makes a better Mage.)]
[Progress to leveling up Strength: 74.25%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Agility: 68%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 56%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Perception: 17.5%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Resilience: 30%/100%]
[Free Attribute Points received: 10]
rlin’s progress impressed him. It had seed like sothing completely impossible to him a while back as he recalled how he had always grumbled, and Nora would try to bring him down to earth by telling him how quickly he was actually improving. Now that he looked at his interface, he could see that she had been right.
He had leveled up his Strength and Agility four tis, his Intelligence and Perception once, and his Resilience nine tis. And he was already inching closer to leveling up once again.
It was surprising, but it was the result of his hard work. He had doubled, no, tripled his workouts, and had not missed a single day. And he had also made sure to set out ti to ditate in the morning—progressing his Perception—and study his mana at night for his Intelligence. All those activities of his had beco a routine, and they had co together to help with his progress. He would take every praise for it.
And yet I’m still unable to deconstruct Nora’s spell… rlin sighed as he chewed and swallowed his food. Apparently, level three of his Intelligence was not where he needed to be to have a shot at deconstructing an A-Class Mage’s Tier II magic.
There was sothing else that surprised rlin more than that, though, and it was the fact that Nora was yet to break into Tier III of her spell casting. It was baffling, to say the least; after all, he had taught her how to fall into a trance and study her mana, so he felt like she should have made so significant progress regarding that. But it had been otherwise.
And it was not like she was not constantly training as well. Sure, she was not putting in as much of the effort as he did, but she was not just seated all day playing gas. Which brought him to only one conclusion, sharpening mana to the extent that would be required of it to create a Tier III spell was a daunting procedure. It would take so ti.
Maybe I should look for a way to help her with that? If I search through Singularity Mage I should be able to find sothing. I’ve just been so occupied with building myself that I’ve not had the ti to help her out in any way. We should have a chat.
rlin sighed again.
“Why do you keep doing that?” Nora asked, her usual distaste for constant sighing at the tip of her tongue.
“My bad.” rlin was not planning on teasing her at this ti, so he just stopped.
“You know, rlin,” Janeth started, they were all seated now, eating. “I don’t think I ever ntioned how crazy your growth has been. You’ve gained so much more muscle compared to when you walked into the gym that day. And they’re quite firm too.”
rlin could feel heat rising from his neck like he was a kettle. If she said anymore, he would definitely beco the reddest he’d ever been near her.
“Stop teasing him, Jane,” Nora chid in.
“I’m just stating my observations,” she said.
“You should have observed that you hadn’t gotten my extra spicy chicken instead of checking out a guy’s muscles.” Sunny snorted, and their bickering almost began if only Janeth had not suddenly recalled sothing.
“Ah… That reminds . Did you guys see the news? The whole Dungeon Break stuff?” she reported, eyes glistening with enthusiasm regarding the topic.
rlin had co to realize for a while now that Jane was not only obsessed with muscles and magic, she was also quite into monsters and what existed within the Dungeons and Towers. Basically, besides muscles, she was interested in everything that ca with the cataclysm, including that itself.
“What about it?” Sunny asked, evidently oblivious.
He was the polar opposite of Janeth. He preferred shamanism to all that, and as such barely checked the news about anything related to magic and monsters. For a guy who ran a Mage gym, that was funny. Perhaps that shared a hand in why it had failed.
Janeth beca animated. She raised her arms high.
“Monsters have been pouring out lately.”
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