After not even a day, nor half a day has passed since returning to his nine years old life, the first eventful thing Arthur needed to endure was one of the most traumatic event of his life, The mana and attribute test. It was so traumatic for him, since in his past life, when he took the mana test, there he learned that not only his mana count was 50 MP (Mana Points), which is the edge of passing vs. failing to become a mage, there he also realized what a mediocre mage talent he had.
In the world of Laksha, the basis for the mana points needed for someone to become a mage is 50 MP. Though this is enough for someone to learn some magic spells from the 3rd or 4th Tier, since over time mana count increases based on the experience that you acquire, the number of spells you would be able to cast would be limited, since all spells require MP, and depending on how much you train and how much talent you have, your MP might not increase for more than a thousand.
For example, a Tier 1 [Fireball] consumes 15 MP per cast, and Tier 2 [Fireball] consumes 30MP per cast, a Tier 3 [Fireball] consumes 55MP per cast, a Tier 4 [Fire Blast] consumes 150MP per cast.
So with that chart, a mediocre mage could cast only a handful of spells, not to mention, there are other elemental attribute such as [Water], [Wind], [Earth] that consumes differently in terms of MP.
Although Arthur knew all about his magic attribute, he was still hesitant in some sort of way to look at his mana count as 50 once more.
"Hey, Young Arthur. What are you waiting for? Come on, don't be afraid."
Sir Rudolf said with a mild voice to Arthur whose face was starting to get slightly pale.
Arthur hesitantly pour his mana to the black sphere that his right hand was holding. Then the [Creed's Sphere] started to glow like usual as it starts reading Arthur's mana count and attribute. On the sphere where Arthur was looking intently, numbers started to appear like it was counting randomly incrementally.
[1, 5, 17, 33, 45, 50,
When the sphere showed 50, he felt like the world had slowed down. He was looking at the number like it has become his destiny or judgement.
However, the least expected happened. The number continued to increase randomly.
55, 70, 95, 115, 150, 190, 300, 500, 0]
Arthur was speechless but his facial expression told everything about what he was thinking. Although he was surprised about his mana count surpassing 50, now he was even more dumbfounded that his mana count returned back to 0.
Some of the people watching Arthur's test were talking and gossiping, obviously wondering why the number suddenly hit 0. Although it was not just the crowd who was surprised, but also Sir Rudolf himself.
Arthur looked at Sir Rudolf's face as he was slacked jaw with a face full of this image where it says 'I can't believe it!', but then after a while, Sir Rudolf started to explain with a clear excitement on what has transpired.
"Young Arthur, you and the people here must be wondering why your mana count dropped to 0 right?"
Without saying anything, Arthur's expression which's like answering 'Yes' was clear as day.
"Well to be exact, the counting hit 0 not because your mana count is 0 but rather the [Creed's Sphere] is designed to read only up until 500MP. That means your mana count is above 500."
Arthur just couldn't believe it. His hands were trembling not just because of excitement or happiness, no... it's a feeling of his complete disbelief. He was a man who returned to the past from his past life. So if what he experience was a normal time travel, in theory nothing should have changed. Everything should still be the same according to the timeline, and if something should have changed, it's should be because of the butterfly effect of his new decision that should affect the future. However, his mana count should not have change at all, especially that not even a day has passed when he woke up as a nine years old again. So in his mind, 'What the hell is going on?'.
With large amount of mana, a person's potential increases. Not just because of how many spells you can use before you run out of MP, but because, this also determines what kind of spells you can learn. Not because you have 500 MP and [Fire Blast] only requires 150MP per casting, means that you're a Tier 4 magician and you can use Tier 4 magic already. No. These spells are separated by Tier levels for a reason. Every tiered spells have requirements before you can use them, and one of those requirements is mana count. You need to reach a certain amount of mana before you can level up to the next Tier, and use the spells under that rank.
Tier 1 (50MP to 100MP)
Tier 2 (101MP to 200MP)
Tier 3 (201MP to 350 MP)
Tier 4 (351MP to 500 MP)
Tier 5 (501MP to 1000MP)
Tier 6 (1001MP to 2000MP)
Tier 7 (2001MP to 5000MP)
Tier 8 (5001MP to 15000MP)
Tier 9 (15001MP to 30000MP)
Tier 10 (30001MP)
[Tier 9 and Tier 10 were ranks that no human has ever stepped into]
With Arthur's face saying 'what the heck', Sir Rudolf Von Eel continued talking.
"I understand that everything is confusing right now because we don't have the means to check how much mana you have, but if you want to learn everything about your mana count, then you have to follow me to the Sun Academy."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
About the mana detector that Sir Rudolf was pertaining to, Arthur heard about it in his previous life when he was still a normal student in the academy. So he was not surprised about the mana detector above 500MP to be seen in the Sun Academy, and besides, that place is the destination for all the aspiring mages, so he really needed to go there.
After the brief explanation of Sir Rudolf. The test continued on, and this time; this was for the Arthur's attribute. Arthur was not curious about his attribute because he already knew what he has. In his previous life before he became an illusionist, he was originally categorized as a [Wind] magic user. In his previous life, his test result were, 50MP with staff (magic) as his attribute and [Wind] as his magic attribute. So in his new life, he was expecting the same results, since it will be totally insane and illogical if his attribute also changed with his mana count.
The [Creed's Sphere] was glowing like it usual
BMMMM...
It's calculating and checking the attribute of Arthur, the one whos holding the black sphere, but then all of a sudden the glowing stop and an image of a staff appeared on it. No one was surprised that a staff appeared on the black sphere. With his mana count reaching above 500, everyone would be much more surprised if a hammer or a sword appeared on it. However, after the image of a staff was shown, the black sphere started to glow again, but this time, it was glowing bright and dim repetitively.
BMMMmm...
BMMMmm...
Everyone around Arthur whose seeing that event transpired thought of the same thing, the [Creed's Sphere] is reading the second attribute. Still, no one seemed to be surprised about this, except for Arthur himself. The people already branded him as genius in their minds, but who could blame them. With a mana count over 500 as a nine years old, what else can you call that besides genius, but for Arthur this was something new, AGAIN! He was totally sure that he's not a dual attributed person. For his entire life he was only using [Wind] magic and the [Illusionary Magic System] which is an artifact. So he was not quite sure why that thing was glowing irregularly.
After a couple of seconds, the glowing stopped and another image was showing. Arthur darted his eyes towards the sphere's center, looking at the image that it was showing. Although it was not just Arthur who was looking intently, but also Sir Rudolf himself was curious.
Everyone were expecting between one of the four attributes. Sword, Shield, Mallet, or Lion, but everyone couldn't be more wrong. When Arthur looked at the Sphere, what he saw was another Staff, although this time, the staff is like a darker version of the first one. No one knows what's the meaning of it, or maybe it's a malfunction. No one was sure, not even Sir Rudolf and especially not even Arthur himself.
"I thought I already had the staff as my main attribute, why is it showing another one?]
Curious question of Arthur to Sir Rudolf who was standing in front of him who was intently analyzing the [Dark Staff].
"I'm not sure?"
Irresponsible reply of Sir Rudolf to Arthur who was expecting an answer. Though who could blame Sir Rudolf, the Five main attributes were Staff [Magic], Sword [Ki], Shield [Vitality], Mallet [Smith], Lion [Taming]. No one knew anything about a [Dark Staff].
"Maybe this is just a malfunction on its magic circuit since this is just a prototype?"
After letting everyone got curious about the last attribute that was shown on the black sphere, everyone left it as a malfunction just like what Sir Rudolf's unsure suggestion.
The crowd started to disperse since the event had come to an end. Everyone was happy because, unlike the past tests, were a lot of people were left hanging about their future, because if you fail, your dream to become a mage will thrown down the drain, and it will be up to you on what to do next to pursue or get another purpose. This time around, everyone has been given a purpose. All the kids and young adults who took the test got their proper results on what category they should pursue, but as the people were dispersing and Sir Rudolf and his company were ready to pack up and leave, Arthur couldn't help but to look at Sir Rudolf.
Actually, Arthur knew who Sir Rudolf was in his past life. He was a prominent figure as a mage, but not just any other strong mage but a dual attributed one at that. He was the Vice Principal of the Sun Academy who contributed a lot on the war against the monster spawn of Crizsalis Mimon. He was one of the strongest Tier 7 magicians who fought and died on Arthur's past life.
Arthur could still remember it like it only happened yesterday, on how heroic Sir Rodulf was in his past life.
The Humanity's force was fighting a losing battle. Everyone present at time knew it. Two out the five generals of Criszalis Mimon were present on that night. Everything on sight whether if it's left or right were either burning with blue flames or a dead body was lying. The stench of death was all around that it's more like hell than earth. 'We were prepared to die, I was prepared to die that night'.
Arthur and his comrades only had two options left that night, either they fight to last man which they know they will lose eventually, or leave someone whose strong enough to stall for time until everyone could make their escape. To his mind, the answer could never be clearer. However, he cannot ask someone to die just for him and his comrades to escape. Every single person on that team that was fighting that night, he knew not just their names, but their aspirations, their wishes, their love ones. They fought battles and won, and they even seat on the same bonfire to relax when the battle was over, to share their worries and future expectations. No one was just a pawn for him to send themselves to their death.
Because Arthur couldn't stand sending someone onto his or her death, Arthur was about to stepped forward, ready to volunteer to be left behind so everyone could go and escape. He was only Tier 5 at best, but because of his Illusion magic he could buy enough time for everyone to escape. It was the perfect plan, but then a 185cm middle aged man with black hair wearing a tattered long white coat, covered with blood, holding a staff walked passed Arthur, and lightly pushed him back, then said with a bitter smile,
"It's not yet your time young Arthur. Leave this kind of job to the adults. How can I proudly say that I'm a vice principal of the Sun Academy, if I will just let one of my students die for me."
Arthur was taken a back, but still, he tried to stopped him from taking the suicide mission, although before he could even do anything, Sir Rudolf Von Eel casted the [Sun Dome] magic, which was comparable in covering three soccer stadiums in wide and length, leaving only Arthur and his comrades out of the dome. The [Sun Dome] magic is the strongest [Shield] attribute spell only second to the [Millennium Barrier]. This protection spell can stop all kinds attacks whether it's from the inside or the outside as long as the user has mana.
The last thing he remembered about that fateful event was the small back of Sir Rudolf being lost in the smoke and then lightning strikes continuously inside the dome.
As Sir Rudolf and his company packing up, Arthur walked over to where they were standing.
"Hey Sir Rudolf, thank you for today and for everything."
"Your welcome?"
Sir Rudolf replied with his mild middle aged voice.
With the random act of gratitude that Sir Rudolf received, the puzzled look on his face was obvious. No matter what he did on the past life of Arthur, all of that was something that never happened yet, or maybe will never happened at all. Still, Arthur wanted to thank him just for being him, just to satisfy himself on what happened on his past.
...
...
...
After talking to Sir Rudolf, an almost painful glare that was really hard not to notice was pointed at Arthur. When he tried and track where that glare was coming from, it was coming from a boy who was wearing an extravagant greenish coat, with black hair that will reach the tip of his shoulder. He was glaring menacingly as if he wanted to attack Arthur at any moment.