After the duo ate the delicious stew with reverence at the strange array of flavors that permeated through it despite the lack of spices. It was a delicious meal that Arvion would have expected to have come across in his previous world, but he came across a culinary masterpiece here despite all odds.
It was strange nonetheless. After they ate they both fell asleep quickly from the warmth of comfort and the grace of food. After falling asleep for roughly 14 hours, they both regained consciousness in the dining room surrounded by warm food. The old man wore a great smile upon his face as he cooked and prepared more food out of the various sizes and places of the Beavers body. Sadly it wasn't a different beast because no matter how many times he seemed to eat the same type of food he would never gain evolution points twice. It seemed like he could eat the same creature type twice and gain benefits twice but the same beast only provided evolution points once.
After eating a few bites of food he realized he was already quite full even though Axel devoured most of the food as it came out. While Axel was eating however Arvion decided to take a look at his stats and skills.
'System please open up my status and skills please'
Name: Arvion
Species: Household Mouse (Shadow type Affinity and empty affinity slot)
Familiar: Axel(Human, Water-type affinity)
Class: Mage
Level: 3
XP:329/300
Hitpoints: 21/21
Stamina: 1/1
Mana: 15/15
---
Name: Arvion
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 10
Endurance: 1
Lifeforce: 21
Intelligence: 20
Wisdom: 15
Evolution Points Available: 15
---
Skills:
Passive Skills:
Classes Unlocked LV: MAX + Mastery: LOCKED
Natural Stealthiness LV: MAX + Mastery: 0/1000
Elementary Shadow Magic Affinity LV: 1 + Mastery 1/100
No slots remain please evolve to increase skill slots
Active Skills:
Stealth: LV: 1 + Mastery 1/100
Mana Manipulation LV: 3 + Mastery 14/100
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Meditation LV: 1 + Mastery 1/100
No slots remain please evolve to increase skill slots
Spell Skills:
Outbreak LV: 1 + Mastery 2/100
Please increase your power, control, and ??? stats to unlock more spells.
General Skills:
Inspect: LV: 1 + Mastery 0/100
---
'I can level up! That's amazing I must have missed it last night while I was exhausted. System, Level me up!'
'Nice!'
'Now to my skills... It seems like my most accomplished skill seems to be Mana manipulation and it would be nice to see what it could do at higher levels but I think practicing and upgrading the mastery points should be enough for me so far.'
'I think it would be beneficial for me to upgrade Outbreak but so far it seems as there's no way for me to upgrade it since there is no value attached to upgrading it.'
'System upgrade 'Outbreak''
'Hmm, it seems like I was right. Inspect seems like a useful skill but it's just too costly for the low benefits.'
'So what else should I upgrade... Perhaps my affinity? No that doesn't seem like something I should focus on too much. It's highly costly at a starting cost of 10 evolution points after all. Way too rich for my blood.'
'Another strange thing is the fact that Natural Stealthiness can be upgraded via mastery points. It seemed like a skill that would be capped from the beginning but it turns out to be quite strange...'
'I could just increase my stats some though that seems quite boring... How about I upgrade meditation some since that will help me train mana manipulation and outbreak faster. That seems like a good outcome.'
'System upgrade Meditation as much as possible.'
'Spend my remaining 5 evolution points into Wisdom'
'Score! I managed to get an extra spell skill slot on top of increasing my mana efficiency.'
'Now it's time to train.'
Arvion and Axel finished up breakfast before they went about their normal day of training and doing chores. As they trained Axel checked the description of his new and improved Meditation skill.
---
Meditation LV: 3 Mastery 0/100
This allows the user to regenerate magic by entering a semi-comatose status that prevents the user from doing anything. Increases magic regeneration by 33% while in use. Costs for upgrade: 15 evolution points.
---
'Not much in terms of new stuff but a total increase in its efficiency by 23%! That's pretty damn good.'
As the hours went by so did the days. As a group decision, it seems like they were locked to the grounds of the house and the glade and prohibited from going out to hunt because of the dangerous excursion previously. So since he was prohibited to level up he was forced to practice and hope to level up the Mastery of his skills. He was destined to fail the competition one way or another it seemed like with the prohibition of leveling up.
With not much else to accomplish it seemed as if he dealt with the next two weeks by solely training and eating delicious food.
---
After two whole weeks, he managed to improve his skills significantly though the time was coming for the tournament's first-round to end. He looked up at the screen of his System and looked at the results.
---
Current Objective: Level Up as fast as possible in the next 1 minute.
Current Scores:
1: Ice Alpha Wolf System: Level 19
2: The Great Sage Hawk System: Level 6
3: The Mouse’s Grand System: Level 4
---
'Hmm, it seems as if the others stagnated as I did. That's strange...'
Arvion sat still in the early morning and watched the screen waiting for the rewards to be distributed. After one minute a black screen appeared before him.
It wasn't just purely black but seemed a mixture of grays and blacks with roiling thunder mixed in. Four words slowly rolled up on the screen before a short description was read out to him in his mind.
This curse affects those who receive the last place in the competition. Those who receive this curse receive luck worse than that of the unluckiest man on the current planet that you are on and have their system temporarily removed during the period of this time. This is not only a curse but a period of growth. Please use it wisely!
'This seems... Ominous!'