Apparently, it was common sense for an aspiring Mage to train their body as necessary as possible. Or perhaps Nora was just pulling his legs, avoiding telling him the real reason why she had woken up so early in the morning to jog.
Seriously, that lazy fox? rlin hadn’t been able to believe his eyes. And he still couldn’t believe it as he watched her really jogging, just slightly ahead of him. What was even funnier was that he was already breathless, while she seed to still be able to go on for a few more miles. Was this really her first ti?
“Hey! Slow down, will you?” rlin called out. “Let’s take a break.”
Nora scoffed, not looking back. “What gives you the idea that we’re exercising together? We ca out separately.”
Well, that was an. And she had ant it. Because a minute or so later, Nora was nowhere to be found.
rlin, however, was too tired to carry on. He sprawled on the closest bench he could find, head flung back, legs and arms spread out in an ungainly manner, and panting like he had just barely escaped a fight with a bear. Before his eyes was the System, and… what was of his progress.
[Blue Quest ongoing: 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.]
[Progress to leveling up Strength: 0%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Agility: 0.5%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 0%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Perception: 0%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Resilience: 0.5%/100%]
[Free Attribute Points received: 0]
Geez, man. What even is this? I’ve been running for almost twenty minutes now, and this is all I get? No A.P. even? Do I look like a joke to you?
He didn’t even have the energy to frown despite his anger.
At this rate I won’t have any significant growth before the day of the exam. In other words, I’ll fail. If only there was a way for to get A.P without having to exercise. Why is it tied to this damn quest?
Quests as a whole had not been in Singularity Mage, so it was uncharted territory for rlin. Although, even if it had been present, he doubted Kieran would have had any problems with completing the ‘strengthen your body quest’ he was struggling with. The protagonist had grown up as a farr after all. His body had already been strengthened right from his early childhood days. And as soon as he’d gotten his System, all that was left of him was venturing into Dungeons, beating up Mages that looked down on him, going on the adventure of his life, and defiling the heavens.
rlin was different. He was so lanky one would think he was sickly. And that made it hard for him to just get into the groove of exercising. He could also not just seek out a Dungeon and hunt monsters down. Aside from the fact that places where Dungeons and Tower gates appeared were guarded by Consortium Mages, making it impossible for unauthorized personnels to even sneak into one, he was not sure how well that would work to level up his Attributes. Defiling the heavens was also impossible. But, man, he wished he could do that once.
That thought reminded him of his System Class. He rembered what it was from Singularity Mage. It was a Class Kieran had unlocked close to the end of the novel, and it was called: ‘Singularity’. It was a Class that granted Kieran the ability to oppose the rules of nature in itself—the rules of life and magic in totality. But he’d had to achieve a certain threshold to obtain it. Which was understanding the inherent rules of magic in itself, its infinite potential, as well as how to tamper with it in every form feasible in order to achieve a desired outco. And since magic was infinite, that ant its forms were also infinite. For Kieran to have achieved that outco and beco Singularity, he’d made himself infinite.
Which was crazy, now that rlin thought about it.
Why had he and The Sleeping Jacket set up such a rule? There was no way he could achieve Singularity. Despite having a low mana pool, Kieran was a talent right from the beginning of the story, and quite the hardworking Mage too. He, on the other hand, was different. And, to be honest, how Kieran had attained infinity had been sowhat glossed over.
He could not bla The Sleeping Jacket on that matter, though. It was scientifically impossible for one to beco infinity; so there was no way to explain it. What had happened instead, was Kieran had gone on a journey of enlightennt, and had traded every single one of his abilities for divine progression.
But that was besides the point. One thing was certain here. If rlin wanted to get stronger, he needed to exercise. If not, then he better gave up on his dream of becoming a Mage.
“Well, then. I guess I have no choice.”
rlin exhaled deeply and rose to his feet. He stretched for a bit, his bones filling his ears with all types of cracking sounds, then resud his jogging. He’d never experienced fainting, but, perhaps, he would today.
Luckily for rlin, he had scaled through, neither dead nor fainted. Instead, he was draped on the floor back in the apartnt he and Nora had rented for the duration of their stay in Korea, until they moved into the Academy’s dorms. Considering they got admitted, that was.
“Nora,” he called. “Water, please.”
“Get one yourself,” she’d said that but ended up tossing a bottle his way regardless. “Lazy bum.”
“Thank you.” He didn’t have the energy to exchange words at this mont.
As he sat up and unscrewed the cover of his bottle of water, he analyzed his progress.
[Blue Quest ongoing: 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.]
[Progress to leveling up Strength: 0%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Agility: 3%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 0%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Perception: 0%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Resilience: 3%/100%]
[Free Attribute Points received: 2]
His Resilience and Agility had both gone up to three percent, and he’d gotten two Attribute Points for his use.
I jogged for an hour and forty minutes more, so it seems one hour gets a single A.P, and the Attribute pertaining to the exercise goes up by one-point-five percent. rlin squeezed the empty bottle in his hand hard. This asly thing is what I get for jogging for two hours? At this rate I’m going to die before I even achieve any significant progress. How do athletes do this?
rlin, however, did not recomnd sulking. So, he promptly looked on the bright side. He had two Attribute Points, and that ant he could begin leveling up his Intelligence. That was the most important thing. He would even walk through fire for it. Once he had enough Intelligence to analyze and deconstruct as many spells as he wanted for as long as he wanted, then he would be more than satisfied.
There’s still being certain that I’ve not actually been infected by a hallucination virus, but that’s another topic for later… In fact…
“Hey, Nora!” he called out to his twin sister as he willed for the System to deposit his Attribute Points into the Intelligence Attribute. She had long gone into her room, not even looking half as tired as he was. He had underestimated her capabilities.
[Assign 02 Attribute Points to Intelligence?]
[Yes]/[No]
Yes…
[Assigning...]
[Successful]
[ 02 Attribute Points have been assigned to Intelligence]
[Blue Quest ongoing: 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.]
[Progress to leveling up Strength: 0%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Agility: 3%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 1%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Perception: 0%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Resilience: 3%/100%]
[Free Attribute Points received: 0]
What?! rlin frowned at the result of his morning labor. Piss off, man! This is highway robbery! Why aren’t the Attribute points equivalent to the progress?
“Yeah?!” Nora answered then, shifting his attention from his annoyance back to the question he’d thrown her way.
He clicked his tongue. “When did the Guildmaster say you’ll receive your Grimoire?”
That was right. She had t with the Consortium’s Guildmaster, just because she had been evaluated as an A-Class Mage. It was a benefit given to B-Class Mages and higher. They were rare, and because of that they had to be treated with respect—to be able to directly ask the Guildmaster any questions they had and receive the answers imdiately. C-Class Mages and lower would have to send mails, and would receive their answers from the secretary instead.
It was not that the rest of the Mages weren’t important, it was just that the Consortium’s Guildmaster was a busy man. And since C-Class Mages and D-Class Mages made the crux of the percentage of Mages, he really couldn’t sit down in his office and attend to them one after the other, now, could he?
Eh, maybe that wasn’t entirely true.
rlin’s Mage Class, Deficient Mage, was even rarer than the S-Class. However, he had not gotten an audience with the Guildmaster.
This was just him ranting, by the way.
“In two days ti,” Nora answered from behind her door. “So, I guess tomorrow.”
“That’s fast,” remarked rlin as he chased the System out of his sight and rose to his feet. “I would have thought it would take at least a week.”
“It does,” Nora replied. rlin’s brows fell in confusion. “Well, at least for C-Class and D-Class Mages. B-Class, A-Class, and S-Class, are attended to quicker—”
“HUSH!” rlin scread. “I don’t want to hear anymore.”
The favoritism was making his ears bleed. Goodness, was he jealous.
He’d always wanted to have a taste of the life of a celebrity even once. Those mired in it always complained about the harsh side of the whole thing, but he wanted to experience it for himself. He was a rather curious person, if he was to say so himself.
“You must be out of your mind! Who’re you telling to hush?!” Nora barked. “Get the hell out of the sitting room and have your bath, will you? Stinking the whole room up. This is why getting a girlfriend is a lost dream for you?”
That stung. rlin wouldn’t take it. It was an insult to his manliness.
“You don’t get to say that. Acting like you’ve got a boyfriend. No one wants your large forehead, either!” he bit back. And then there was silence. A few seconds later, Nora’s door flung open and a shoe ca hurtling through the air, hitting him square in the face.
Now that really hurt.
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