Arthur completely understand the true meaning and benefit of rivalries. In his past life up until before the world ended, rivalries made the warriors better at what they do. Competition is a good thing, it brings out the best in someone. That's why a glare coming from Rein Galust is something new for him, but not unexpected.
From his past life, he knew who Rein Galust was. He was an individual who really believed in himself and his capabilities, but his talent for battle was not something that you cannot deny from him.
A three attributed mage-warrior who can attack and support at the same time, with a talent that comes every one hundred years. Although his problem was his attitude.
In Arthur's past, Rein was someone who doesn't want to lose. Maybe it's his pride of being a three attributed person, or maybe because he felt superior to everyone. He was not sure, but one thing is for certain. In his past life; as a 50MP starter mage, his talent - if he can call it at that, doesn't rival Rein's.
As for Rein Galust who was enjoying the teachings in the upper echelons of mage craft and swordsmanship, Arthur Falmas was trying his hardest to learn new spells.
That's why when the brownish eyes of Rein met Arthur's, and the glare that he received was full of this image; 'you shall never defeat me!', he couldn't help himself but to chuckle in disbelief. Then the next thing he knew was Rein Galust was gone from where he was standing.
Moments later, after all the commotions about the test that was held at the village square, Arthur and his family went home and just like any other parents, his father and mother were jumping with joy about the result of their youngest at the mage test.
"I can't believe it, my son has over 500 mana right now!"
Therese, Arthur's mother said as she was hugging her son tightly, rubbing her face against his.
"Of course, that's our son, what do you even expect? HAHAHAHAHA!"
Laughingly said by Henry, who was holding a glass of liquor and was already celebrating.
"You even have more mana than me when I started? That's unbelievable, but not in a good way."
Olivia said while she was pouting and obviously a bit jealous, while full of disbelief as her brother who was soft both physical and emotional has an above 500 mana already.
The auburn haired older sister of Arthur; Olivia, was someone who took the mage test when she was still 11 years of age. She was someone you could really tell from the beginning a what you call a genius. Besides her great instinct in close quarter combat, she also possess a 225 starter mana points upon taking her test. She's qualified to become a mage obviously, but also she possess a [Ki] to learn Ki based swordsmanship, and at that moment where she's already 16 years of age, her mana count has really increased tremendously and now ranked as a Tier 5 Gold. She's the youngest to reach that rank.
"Mum, dat huwts." (Mom, that hurts)
Arthur who was almost mumbling said, as he couldn't speak properly because of her doting mother continuously rubbing her cheeks against his.
After focusing on Arthur for a while and as Therese saw the beer that Henry was holding was almost finished, and his cheeks turned pinkish red, while his eyes were squinting as his voice started to get loud while laughing and talking, Therese asked Henry to calm down and stop, though like any typical husband, Henry didn't want to stop and even reiterated that they were supposed to be celebrating, but also like any other stereotype wife, Therese didn't want her husband to get drunk so much which was what Henry was trying to do.
Well to be exact, Arthur knew what a hard drinker Henry was, and because of that, Therese always ended up cleaning the mess that Henry makes which makes his mother always gets angry.
After all that has been over, and the light celebration that has been made for Arthur was done, Arthur went back to his room and lie down to his bed.
A soft foam of a bed and the silent night where there's no dangerous monster lurking around, ready to pounce and kill you, was a feeling that Arthur has forgotten for a very long time. Due to every dangerous night he had on his past life, he and his comrades needed to have shifting schedules on guarding duties to keep the group safe.
As Arthur was staring blankly at the ceiling, with his hands crossed together making it as his pillow, comprehending all the things that happened to him so far was still a hard thing to do, but who could blame him? For him, everything happened just yesterday. The battle with Cryzsalis Mimon, the burning smell of human flesh, the death of his comrades, all of that were something really fresh to his mind.
Though he knew he needed to set that aside at the moment, because he knew that he got a second chance to correct all the mistakes that happened to his past life. He knew what he needed to do.
In his past life, there were some famous people who perished before the apocalypse even started, and he knew that those people, if they didn't die untimely, they would have contributed greatly to the war against the monsters in his past life, and at that moment right there, he knew that saving those people will be the first thing that he needed to do.
One of the first people in his mind was a woman adventurer named, Luna Cristy. She was a famous Tier 6 Gold adventurer for how she was using ice magic. She was so good at it that at some point, she was branded as the 'Ice Queen', and to top that, she was also proficient in using a rapier even though she doesn't possess a [Ki].
The way she uses her magic and rapier together, where she would envelop her rapier with ice magic to enhance it, made her like a pseudo magic knight. Although at 1188, the term magic knight was still not yet discovered.
On what Arthur remembered, on the year 1188, the same year where he is at. Luna Cristy A.K.A 'Ice Queen' mysteriously vanished. The last record where she was found alive before she was found dead on the following year, was when she accepted and went for a C class mission.
Though before he can save anyone, Arthur knew the hard truth, he's a Tier 1 Bronze, and to save Luna Cristy, she needed to be at least a Tier 4 Gold.
Every Tier level are separated between Bronze, Silver, and Gold.
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For instance, for a Tier 1 Bronze to rank up to Tier 2 Bronze, that mana user needed to level up from Tier 1 Bronze to Silver and then to Gold. After that, they can rank up their mana core to Tier 2 Bronze. Usually, depending on the effort and talent of an individual, from Tier 1 to Tier 2, the rank up might take at least 2 to 3 months as the fastest, but not to mention, he needed to rank up to Tier 4 Gold.
On his past life, he was able to reach Tier 5 Gold when he was 25 years of age. His talent was really common if you must say. In this world, if you are normal, you are lucky to reach Tier 6 Gold in your 60s and might not rank up anymore.
That's the hardest truth about the world of magic, everything is about talent and hard work working hand and hand for you to become a successful magician. You cannot use hard work as a compensation for your lack in talent, and definitely, if you have talent but no hard work, that's nothing... but at least if you have talent, you can find it in yourself to work hard.
However, something's new about Arthur, and that was his talent. Before, he only got 50 starter MP, but now he got more than 500 MP plus he got his memories from his past life.
Luckily, Arthur knew a ranking up method without taking too much time and effort. This was all thanks to Kurtis Lloyd, the greatest sage to all sages in the known history. He invented this method due to the lack of man power to fight the monsters, this technique can rank up a Tier 3 Bronze mage straight to Tier 5 Gold instantly. Though this shortcut is not without a drawback. There's roughly 20% chance that you might die and 99% chance that it will shorten your lifespan.
The people on Arthur's past life willingly took the risk because of what's at stake, they will die either way if they're too weak to defend themselves, so for them, it's either die right now or shorten my lifespan, or die at battle because of their own weakness. It's really not the hardest choice to make.
In that moment, Arthur was quite unsure on the effect of Kurtis Lloyd's technique on his young body. They manage to try this technique to a 19 years old and above mages and out of 10 them, 1 always die. However, Arthur doesn't have the luxury to rank up like a normal kid does, he's out of time. He needed to power up immediately to save Luna Cristy because he doesn't know when she died exactly at 1188 in his past life.
So without further thinking, Arthur positioned himself on his bed with him sitting on both of his legs, with his hands resting on his lap with his eyes closed, he tried accumulate all the mana that he possess on his mana core, and directed all of it to his brain, it was a real painful process in which it was obvious to the facial expression that he was making, where his face was contorting in pain, and his hands curled to a fist, trembling. A red ball of smoke started to come out from every parts of his to form in front of his sternum. After the red smoke formed a perfect circle with a size of a baseball in front of him, he started to sweat profusely, then the sweat on his body started to bubble and then white smoke or like a steam came out his body. He was steaming hot. His young frame started to turn red from head to toe, its as if he was about to explode.
He diligently stayed on that process for 3 hours straight without moving an inch. Even though this technique made him feel that he was being burned alive, he managed to finish it and as a result, from a Tier 1 Bronze, he ranked up to Tier 4 Bronze. Though after that painful process, he's quite unsure what change to his body in terms of the drawback. Besides all his ligaments hurting, he doesn't feel that his lifespan had shorten, or maybe that's just how he felt.
***
Next morning, at the dining room of the Falmas family, where an oblong shaped table and four chairs seated by each one of the famliy members were positioned under, they were eating their break fast. On the table, there were breads placed on each of their plates and fresh milk poured on their glasses. At the center of the table, the remaining breads could be seen sitting at the bread basket.
Henry, Therese, Olivia, and Arthur were eating normally while their attendants were roaming at the house cleaning. It was a nice day or it should be, but then Arthur had to break the silence by saying what's on his mind... but then a clear shout has been given in response.
"NO! You will not become an adventurer!"
A clear shout in response from Therese as she Denied the request of Arthur to become an adventurer.
Though that kind of reaction was not unwarranted. A 9 years old boy who just finished yesterday his mana test requesting to become an adventurer is like committing suicide. No matter who heard this request, a complete shut down is imminent.
"But mom I know I can do it, you don't have to worry."
"No is no! You understand me Arthur Kan Falmas?!"
Said by Therese who punched the table in anger. Henry and Olivia were only looking and not talking at all, they were just listening to the absurd scene that they were witnessing
"But you have to understand, I can really do it, and whether you allow me or not, I'm going to do it. I'm sorry mother."
As Arthur adamantly making his decision about leaving and becoming an adventurer, tears fall down the eyes of Therese. This really hurt Arthur too since he really doesn't want to hurt her mother. He knew that what he was requesting was a pure absurdity, but there's one thing that only him knew, and that's the world's gonna start its ending in 3 years and he doesn't have the luxury to act as a normal kid, so backing down from this request was something that he cannot do.
However, when Henry heard the insolent answer of Arthur and when Therese started to cry, Henry stood up from where he was sitting and looked at Arthur with an angry face.
"You really want to become an Adventurer to the point that you made your mom cry?"
Angrily said by Henry with a mild yet powerful voice, but the response of Arthur made him more infuriated.
"Yes, Father."
Henry really got mad to what Arthur said as he punched the dining table that they were eating at and crashing the entirety of it to the ground. Therese and Olivia were shocked on how Henry reacted but not Arthur.
As Henry was glaring menacingly to his son, Arthur did not back down and did not look away. Instead, he looked at his father in the eyes with full of conviction.
"Come to the garden and show me where that confidence is coming from."
When Henry said that and was about to go outside, Therese tried to hold his arm to stop him but Henry just wave his arm to remove his wife's hand from him.
Therese started to cry even more, but when he was about to stop Arthur from going outside, he pushed his chair backwards and was about to go out to the garden.
"Are you nuts? Father is Tier 6 Silver and your just a tier 1."
Olivia stated in surprise as Arthur really plan to follow his father. To them, Arthur was just a kid who barely scratched the surface of the world of magic, and just yesterday before the mana test, Arthur fainted from the simple chop that she made... and right now, just because he managed to get an over 500 starter MP, he was arrogantly stating that he wanted to become an adventurer. For them, Arthur was in a dream, and they want to wake him up.
Though Arthur did not let them stop him. He followed his father outside to their big and beautiful garden, where plenty of beautiful flowers were boxing them up. There his father was standing where both his hands were hidden to his pocket. There also was Arthur who stood his ground with his small frame looking at his father with a glowering eyes.
"If you can touch my face even once, you win."
Arthur smirked in response.
"Really?"
"Yes."
Henry responded with a mild tone but his anger was obvious in his face.
After Henry said yes, Arthur made a small step forward, and then he used one of the most basic spells that he knew from the Tier 3 [Wind] attribute.
[Dash].
In that sudden moment, Henry lost track of where Arthur was because he vanished instantly from where he was standing, not even a shadow could be seen, and then not merely a second after,
'BAAAAAM'
Arthur appeared at the right hand side of his father, making him unable to react, and then he threw a real fast spinning kick that landed towards the face of Henry sending him flying to the flowers near their window.