"That one training session with Lyria was so rewarding!" Edric thought as he lay on his bed.
It had been exactly seven days since that day; he delayed his breakthrough into a mage because he wanted his injuries to get better; after all, even if he added the required XP and became a mage, he wouldn't be able to cast a heal spell on himself right away; it takes a lot of time to learn it, especially with his abysmally bad mage talent.
"I underestimated a knight's recovery speed!" Edric thought as he stood up. The numbness in his right hand and arm had greatly improved, and his body no longer hurt. He was back to normal.
"I got 1,000 XP in just a few hours of training with Lyria; maybe I should train with her and invest my XP exclusively in my mage training?" He thought for a moment, then shook his head; his mom, Lyria, would not hold back; if he is unlucky, he may really die.
"No, I don't want to die like that! I would never again train with her!" He completely abandoned the thought of training with Lyria again.
"But even if I am not going to train with Lyria again, I must discover the system's exact formula to award XP. I thought that training wouldn’t amount to much compared to my daily 1,000 free XP, but that day proved otherwise. If I can replicate that every day, I will be able to become stronger much faster," Edric mused.
Even though Edric would never want to experience that training session and life-and-death situation ever again, it would be great if he could gain additional XP by doing some hardcore, non-life-and-death training.
"Time to officially become a mage!" Edric put aside all his thoughts and focused on breaking through; it was already midnight, and no one was in his room.
He sat down in a meditative posture and opened his system panel.
Name: Edric Windwalker
Age: 15 years, 3 months, and 19 days
Task: Have a biological child -
* Mirelle: 253 days left, Etc (Display All)
* Reward: A random White-level skill
* Deadline: 484 days
* Non-completion Punishment: Death
Techniques:
* Great Knight Training: 1,050 / 20,000
* Mage Training: 161 / 10,000
Talents:
* Knight Talent: Legendary (0 / 2,400,000)
* Mage Talent: Average (0 / 100,000)
Cheat: Low Level - 1,000 XP per day.
Available XP: 14,507
"Finally, I can become a Mage!" Edric thought with ecstasy. He was the most excited about becoming a mage, even more so than being a knight. In his last life on earth, he read many novels and watched many movies. Casting magic spells had been his childhood dream. Today, he can officially make the breakthrough and become a real mage.
“Add 9,839 XP to my Mage training!” he commanded, his voice filled with anticipation.
A moment later, the system responded:
"Success! Status changed – Mage Training (10,000/10,000)."
The moment the system prompt appeared, Edric felt an intense dizziness. Without any control, he passed out, his body succumbing to the overwhelming surge of magical energy.
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...
Opening his eyes, Edric summoned the system panel, eager to see the changes in his status.
Name: Edric Windwalker
Age: 15 years, 3 months, and 19 days
Task: Have a biological child -
* Mirelle: 253 days left, Etc (Display All)
* Reward: A random White-level skill
* Deadline: 484 days
* Non-completion Punishment: Death
Techniques:
* Great Knight Training: 1,050 / 20,000
* Great Mage Training: 0 / 20,000
Talents:
* Knight Talent: Legendary (0 / 2,400,000)
* Mage Talent: Average (0 / 100,000)
Cheat: Low Level - 1,000 XP per day.
Available XP: 4,668
With just one glance, Edric read the entire panel. His thinking speed was quick; in less than one second, he analyzed everything and started developing new ideas for his future development.
"Unbelievable! Unbelievable!" Edric exclaimed, not because of the system panel but because of the speed and clarity of his mind. It was as if his mind had been an old, barely oiled machine before, while now it was well-oiled, swift, and nimble without any friction.
"I can think of two things at the same time!" Edric demonstrated this by taking out two pieces of paper and two pens and writing different texts on each without difficulty.
"My body strength hasn't changed at all; for mages, their mind and spiritual power would be improved once they break through. Without such a nimble mind, they cannot cast spells," he mused; he hadn't read any of these in books; they were his new insights into mages.
"My thinking speed is much faster, but my way of thinking is still unchanged; fortunately, I am still me!" Edric thought. If this breakthrough suddenly changed his worldview, that wouldn't have been much different than death; if one's ideas, beliefs, and way of thinking changed, they wouldn't be the same person anymore.
"Mage training is just strengthening of the mind and soul; it's just that the minds and souls of most people cannot be expanded and strengthened. Very rarely are people with special souls born who could continuously strengthen their soul," Edric reflected, understanding the core of mage progression.
"Anyone with an expandable and strengthenable soul has mage talent; I have average mage talent, which means that even though my soul can expand and be strengthened, it is a very long and hard process," Edric thought, his new insights flowing out.
"Mage talent is the ability of the soul to be strengthened, and knight training is the ability of the body to be strengthened; most people are born with a fixed body and soul, meaning that most people have no mage or knight talent," Edric thought.
"The overwhelming majority of people don't even have 'average' rank talent; average talent is the most common among those with talent; being born with average talent is already better than the overwhelming majority!" Edric thought.
"With my average talent, I should have been able to become a mage by the age of 100, granted that I regularly meditate; if I had higher talent, I would have been able to become a mage much sooner by simply meditating," Edric thought.
"My system directly bypasses this restriction," he thought.
"The biggest drawback of having bad magic talent is that it takes so long to break through and officially become a mage; however, my system can completely bypass it; I can easily break through and become a mage by just adding XP!" He thought.
"There are other drawbacks to having bad mage training talent; my magic affinity is low, which means it would take more mana for me to cast the same spells compared to those with higher talent!" Edric thought.
"Mana is significant for mages; without mana, one wouldn't be able to cast any spells; it can be said that as long as a mage has mana, they are much stronger than knights of the same rank; once their mana runs out, they would completely lose their power; I should improve my mage talent in the future to reduce mana efficiency!" Edric thought.
Edric thought of many things, but it took less than one second in the real world! His speed of thinking was rapid, with no obstruction or distraction.
"Even though my mage talent is Average, learning spells should be easier than I expected before; even if my magical affinity is bad, with this amazing thinking speed, I would at least be able to learn simple Healing, Fly, and Fireball spells soon enough; of course, with my mage affinity, I wouldn't be able to learn complicated spells in a short time; as for inventing my own exclusive spells, I should forget about it with average talent; fortunately, for my current needs, my average talent is enough." Edric thought. After going through the experience of breaking through and becoming a mage and thinking and organizing all of the knowledge he read or saw in his two lives, he start having many new insights into his future path.
With his horrible mage talent, even if he could learn spells, with his low efficiency, his mana would be exhausted very quickly after casting a few spells; however, his plan wasn't to use spells in battles; from the beginning, he wanted to keep his spells, such as Fly and Heal, as trump cards to turn the tide of battle around; his reliance is his knight training, simply because his knight talent is legendary; it's not that he loves being a knight, it's just that his current situation is such that it would be illogical to abandon his knight training with his legendary talent for his mage training with his average talent.
"Fortunately, Mom has a few old spell books!" Edric thought, happy; he had no idea how exactly his mom obtained those books, but their existence truly made his life easier; he could now learn the spells without too much trouble.