"I swear, Merlin, you do this all the time!" Nora complained, pulling her luggage towards the apartment's door, its wheels making a rough sound as it rolled along the floor. "And it feels like you're getting even worse."
"Sorry!" Merlin could only apologize to his sister as he rushed into his room and dragged out his luggage as well. He would not be having his bath before going to the Academy, it seemed. They were already late, and he was still in his sweat-soaked tracksuit.
It had been a month since Merlin had been gifted with The Dungeon Mage's System, and two weeks since he and Nora had been accepted into Prestige Academy.
He wouldn't lie, he had been pleasantly surprised at that. Nora was always right with her deductions, but… A Deficient Mage being accepted into the most prestigious Mage Academy in South Korea, was still a baffling sight to behold.
He had this nagging feeling that he had scammed his way into the Academy, but he could not think of anything he had done to make that plausible.
Nora had told him to just live in the moment and not consider whatever might have happened behind the scenes. Which was funny, considering how she was always the negative one between the two of them. His parents' joy had also done good enough to make him shrug away his thoughts of what the Academy could have possibly seen in him.
He was in. That was all that mattered. And, during that time, he had not been sitting on his butt.
The System of Kieran, the protagonist of The Dungeon Mage, was actually real—giving his and Nora's doubts. He'd leveled up his physical attributes twice now, and whenever he did, there was this tingling feeling he always had, and the instinctual sense that told him he had improved in the aspects he'd leveled up.
Of course, his practicalizing were the most deciding factors in culling his doubts of the System. And Nora's too. There was only so much she could disbelieve after watching him lift up their three-seater couch with a single hand over his head. And a couple of days of jogging and gyming couldn't have granted him such power, considering he had once been someone who could not lift a sack of pineapples without being helped.
The System was quite straightforward too. Physical attributes were leveled up by simply engaging in physical sessions and gaining Attribute Points for every completed session. There were no such things as quests or the like for those. It was all left to Merlin to figure out how many press-ups he had to do, or how many miles he had to run. And he'd done pretty good if he was to say. Too good, in fact, that he'd suddenly become an athletic fanatic, who always wanted to partake in whichever physical exercise was available. And that was why he was soaked in his sweat and yet to have his bath.
"Make sure to stay away from me once we get to the Academy, do you understand?" Nora eyed him before staring out the window of the uber they were now in. "Always trying to tarnish my reputation. Tch."
"I wonder what reputation you're talking about?" Merlin remarked while sucking on a vanilla flavored popsicle, his thumb moving over his phone's screen, checking how much he'd improved his stats in the past month.
He preferred to do it this way when in public, so that it would not seem like he had lost his mind or something similar.
…
[BIO-DATA]
NAME: Merlin Tyrrell
AGE: 17
MAGE CLASS: Deficient
SYSTEM CLASS: ???
HEX: ???
PERK POINTS: 00
ATTRIBUTE POINTS: (+5 for STR). (+5 for AGI).
[ATTRIBUTES]
STRENGTH: LV. 5 (+5 to level up)
AGILITY: LV. 7 (+5 to level up)
INTELLIGENCE: LV. 2
PERCEPTION: LV. 5
RESILIENCE: LV. 4
[SKILLS]:
…
[PERK]:
CO-AUTHOR: LV. 1
Plagiarize the abilities of D-Class mages and weaker, turning them into your own skill.
…
Merlin had only been able to progress his Strength and Agility, which was to be expected. His morning exercises only pertained to them both. There was not much he could do on behalf of his Perception, Intelligence, and Resilience. At least for now.
Intelligence, for one, was relevant to his Mana—how much he could expend and how well. And unlike in The Dungeon Mage, Mana could not be increased by simply meditating and becoming one with nature.
Well, that was assuming he was not in the possession of a System.
The 'Hex section in his User Interface had no values just like his System Class section, but it was there. Which meant that it would eventually be possible for him to cast spells. And he felt like that was related to his Co-Author Perk. He could plagiarize the abilities of D-Class Mages and weaker, which meant he could copy their Hexs too. In other words, he would be able to, in some way, increase his Mana reserve.
However, basing it all on what had happened in The Dungeon Mage, it was possible that the copying wasn't infinite. Which was why he was treading carefully on using that skill. If it wasn't for that he would have just opened the internet and copied whatever flashy abilities he saw, filling his Skill slot with spells of D-Class Mages.
That thought made him wince. He couldn't imagine himself as an S-Class Mage with D-Class spells. Yuck.
That was one of the reasons why he had chosen not to touch any Attribute beside his Strength and Agility for now, despite the fact that he could use one Attribute's point to level up another. That would reduce the value of the point, though. But that was besides the point.
Casting spells would not be his strong suit for a while, so instead he preferred to boost his physical abilities in order to at least stand a chance in one area over others.
As for his System Class, he remembered what it was from The Dungeon Mage. It was a Class Kieran had unlocked close to the end of the novel. If he recalled correctly, it was the 'Genesis' Class. It granted Kieran the ability to create things out of nothing. 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 outcome. And since magic was infinite, that meant its forms were also infinite. For Kieran to have achieved that outcome and become Genesis, he'd made himself infinite.
Which was crazy, now that Merlin thought about it.
Why had he set up such a rule? There was no way he could achieve Genesis. Kieran was a talent right from the beginning of the story. He, on the other hand, was a Deficient Mage. The major driving force behind his connection with Kieran, was their shared desire to protect their loved ones. And, to be honest, how Kieran had attained infinity had been somewhat glossed over.
He could not blame The Sleeping Jacket on that matter, though. It was scientifically impossible for one to become infinity; so there was no way to explain it. What had happened instead, was Kieran had gone on a journey of meditation, and had traded every single one of his abilities for divine enlightenment.
Merlin sighed and did what he could do: assign his A.P to their respective Attributes.
…
[BIO-DATA]
NAME: Merlin Tyrrell
AGE: 17
MAGE CLASS: Deficient
SYSTEM CLASS: ???
HEX: ???
PERK POINTS: 00
ATTRIBUTE POINTS: 00
[ATTRIBUTES]
STRENGTH: LV. 6 (Leveled Up)
AGILITY: LV. 8 (Leveled Up)
INTELLIGENCE: LV. 2
PERCEPTION: LV. 5
RESILIENCE: LV. 4
[SKILLS]:
…
[PERK]:
CO-AUTHOR: LV. 1
Plagiarize the abilities of D-Class mages and weaker, turning them into your own skill.
…
Merlin felt a slight itch in his forearms, legs, and waist. It was more than obvious the changes that had occurred in his body. He felt like he should be able to haul something as big as a commercial truck's tire now, and even sidestep Nora hurling her slipper at him when she had her tantrums. Perhaps uncomfortably. But the point here was that he could do those.
Satisfied with perusing his User Interface, he turned to his mail and scrolled through the leaflet the Academy had sent.
Students were expected to arrive at the Academy before nine, and head to their respective dorms to have their luggages checked by their Dorm Master. Then once it had clocked ten, they were to change into their uniforms and make their way to the auditorium, where they would receive their orientation and be officially welcomed into the Academy.
It was for this reason that Merlin wasn't bothered that he was not in the most presentable manner. At the end of the day, there was no way he would be going to the auditorium in his tracksuit.
At that moment, their uber abruptly stopped, startling Merlin to look up from his phone, and preventing Nora from putting on her headset.
"Is there a problem, sir?" Nora asked, peeking from the backseat where they were. She was quite polite when she wanted to be.
"There's traffic up ahead," their driver replied. "It seems there's a wild commotion going on."
A commotion?
Merlin looked outside of his window and the walkway was filled with onlookers capturing whatever was going on up ahead. He wanted to roll down the glass to see what exactly had captured the attention of everyone, but he thought against it quickly. Anything could happen at any time, and doing that would leave him somewhat vulnerable.
Nora, though, had other ideas.
"Do you mind unlocking the door, sir?"
"Huh?" Merlin frowned. "For what?" he asked, confused.
"What else would it be for? To go out and check on what is going on of course," she replied.
Merlin pointed towards the windscreen of the car and at the Consortium Mages he could now see glimpses of.
"What do you think you're going there to do that actual trained personnels haven't already?"
The car's doors clicked at that moment.
"I didn't say I was going there to do anything. I just want to see." Nora opened the door. "And… I'm sorry for you. It seems like we're going to be late. You'll attend the orientation in your tracksuit, smelling all sweaty." She laughed, obviously relishing in the situation.
It was not like she was in her uniform. She was dressed in a black jogger pants, a white t-shirt, and a Jean hoodie, topping it all off with a beanie. But she looked a lot more presentable than he was, even if a bit boyish.
Merlin realized then that he was in a mess. His first impression at the Academy was already butchered before he'd even gotten there. He then clicked his tongue, threw his popsicle stick into the leather bag with him, and jumped out of the car.
There was a bit of chaos here and there, but nothing too much that it caused for an excessive amount of worry. And, besides, up ahead was the presence of the Consortium Mages dressed in their blue fitted combat suit with the hexagonal logo of their Guild etched on its sleeves.
When the Consortium Mages took control of a situation, it meant that there had been a Dungeon or Tower break. In other words, Spawns—monsters that had escaped from the Dungeon or Tower—were close by. But they did not seem to be in this vicinity.
There was a 'do not cross' line up ahead, and the hold up was as an effect of the cars turning back.
There was nothing to see here.
"Ugh… Where are the monsters?!" Nora badgered, her expression one of displeasure. What had she been expecting? There was no way the Consortium would let the monsters get this close into town. They were always near every area where the Mana reading was high so as to be right on time when a Dungeon or Tower portal appeared. This way they could take control of a break before it got out of hand.
The driver of their uber horned at them in that instant.
"We should go now!" he said, his head peeking out of his window.
"You heard the man," Merlin called out to his sister.
She turned around and scowled at him. "Tsk. Can't you be just as enthusiastic as me about the monsters? We've only seen them on the internet!"
"Yeah, well we're not exactly supposed to be having standoffs with them now, are we? And besides, we'll see a lot when we graduate from the Academy." Merlin waved Nora's complaints off as he walked back to the car. "So stop the nonsense and let's—"
A scream echoed through the area, catching Merlin's tongue at its tip, preventing him from saying one more word. He instantly shifted his attention to where it had come from.
A monster had appeared.
Merlin knew which this one was. It was a Troll. A C-Rank monster that was just as brutish as its name, with skin the color of gravel, long limbs, and a face that almost resembled that of a horse, wielding its signature weapon: A mace.
Trolls were slow-witted monsters. And that should have meant that they were not as threatening as their physicality made them out to be. But Merlin had read about the monsters, and they were the bane of D-Class and C-Class Mages. Since they had no brains, they were purely all brawls. Their fists worked where their maces didn't. And they only spoke gibberish while pounding on their opponents until they were no different from a mashed potato.
In other words, the monster was Merlin's bane too. After all, he was worse than a D-Class Mage.
How had it gotten here, though? He wondered briefly. There were no portals in sight, which meant that the break must have happened some ways ahead. And if the monsters were C-Rank monsters, then that meant there was at least a B-Class Mage near the source. So how had this one escaped in its lonesome?
Well… That was honestly none of his business. There were Mages here, and he was sure backup was on their way. As for him, he was not going to let his sense for heroics cloud his rationality. He was weak. Too weak. There was nothing for him to do here.
"Hey, Nora! Time to go!!" Merlin called out as his hair stood on his neck and people in the area ran for their dear lives. Even those who were recording put off their phones and sought out shelter. Well, some boys and girls his age went on with it regardless, despite the pleas from the Mages present telling them to run.
Honestly, there was only one monster present, but a threat was a threat, and it should not be taken lightly.
Merlin immediately pulled open the back door of their uber, happy that he had not yet taken a step too far from it. The driver was very eager to leave the vicinity as well. That was evident in the fact that he had turned on the ignition already without his passengers telling him to. Maybe he would leave them if they did not get in soon.
However… Merlin's twin sister did not seem ready.
Nora watched with ecstasy gleaming in her eyes, as the only three Consortium Mages in the area rushed towards the monster, their Grimoires levitating at their sides, and their spells dancing at their fingertips.
It was obvious that they were C-Class Mages, in other words, they would struggle a bit before falling the monster—if they even could.
Merlin was not sure on the actual concept behind it, but from what he'd inferred from the interviews Hunter Mages gave, a single C-Rank monster was as strong as two to three C-Class Mages. And there were only three C-Class Mages present, evident from the way the silver accentuations on their battle suit was designed. The Consortium had made sure that Classes of their Mages could be interpreted just from their wears. Merlin couldn't fathom being a Mage of their Guild with such a rule. It would be nothing short of humiliating for him.
"Hey, Nora…" Merlin called again, this time his voice low as he watched his sister don a grin. "Don't you dare tell me…"
She glanced at him and pointed in the direction of the monster. "We're obligated to help them as Mages, aren't we?"
Oh… She was crazy.