“Anza,” Professor Egret said. “Please do not intervene with Mr. Winters during his examination.” The mimic nodded to the instructions. “Now, Mr. Winters. I am going to send some 1-star attacks your way. You must successfully defend them with ritual magic. It can be any defense ritual, any questions?”

“Nope,” Levi said, determination plastered all over his face. “Let’s do this.” Levi pulled out his wand and felt magic surge toward him. He quickly drew out a simple ritual circle of time. The ritual circle wasn’t large. After practicing, he realized that he didn’t need to have a ritual circle at all. All he needs to do is think of a spell and let the wand trace out the runes. The runes will appear, and then the spell will be cast. This was a distinct advantage he had from his ritualist ability.

Steeling his breath, he began swinging his wand in a rapid movement. The first rune that appeared was one that slowed down time except for him. Levi quickly, this time, drew three more runes. One as a trap on the ground, in case there were any hidden attacks, a shield to cover his body, and a small chaos wall. In real time the wall began to crack as it was tanking hit after hit. It didn’t budge.

More mana surged. Levi also learned that every ritual spell had a cooldown that varied based on the ability. That first rune he used had a one-hour cooldown. The spells that were more mana heavy had the longer cooldown. Levi had no idea how long he was going to have to withstand the attacks from the professor. It could be three attacks or three hours. This time he felt mana surge from behind him; he had prepared for trickery and the attack blasted into the chaos wall that manifested.

Chaos walls were different from any other affinity walls. They would absorb attacks and then send them back with retribution. The retributive attack only came when the walls could not hold on any longer; once they were going to break, they would explode. All that energy gets returned to the sender. Levi had found that at higher ranks had a more efficient form of retribution. Rather than waiting for the explosion it would attack right away and deal more damage.

The shied he had covered himself in was also one of chaos, as his exam was testing his affinity for chaos magic. The shield would move his body right before an attack hit. It would only last one moment and was relatively inexpensive to conjure. That was the downside of smaller ritual spells, they were simple but the process to conjure could ultimately mean your life. The first front wall exploded; shards of red chaos flew toward the direction of the sender. This left him deeply exposed until he could conjure up a new one.

There was an explosion behind him. Both of his walls had exploded, attacking the one who had caused the damage. As he was waving his rune to conjure more walls, his shield moved him abruptly. It was like being dragged by a hook from his waist. He reappeared next to where a bolt of blue water shot past him. He quickly drew a rune for his shield. The shield shone a slight light blue hue. As the purpose of this exam was to strictly defend Levi felt frustration. He wanted to fight back, he wanted to win.

He couldn’t understand the merit of sitting in the back tanking, without his familiars or his two friends. Nevertheless, he kept pushing, working hard to defend and dodge with every second. The attacks increased every minute. Until Levi was eventually overrun, mana spent, sweat drenching his face and body, but he didn’t give up. His shield yanked him to the other side and fizzled out. He had to work to conjure another one. That would take time, which was not something that he had.

Luckily for Levi, he has been working hard on his speed and aura control. He began dodging on his own, ducking, twisting, and jumping. He avoided attack after attack while working to create his necessary defensive measures. He had one more wall in the tank before he passed out from a lack of mana. As he was getting ready to use the last bit of his mana, the room light turned on, and the incoming attacks ceased. Levi sat on the floor, gasping for air.

“Very good, Mr. Winters,” Professor Egret said. “Here,” she pulled out a small vial containing blue liquid. Popping the small cork of the vial and downing the contents, he saw his mana bar increase rapidly.

“Thank you,” he said getting to his feet. Anza walked in and stood next to Levi. Due to the structural integrity of mimics, they could alter their size and shape with relative ease. Anza went back to the height of a mimic drone, its first form. It preferred fitting everywhere instead constantly having to duck or slink through doorways or rooms.

“Your ability to perform ritual magic without an incantation is quite unique,” she said.

“That felt an awful lot like spellcasting,” Levi said wiping his sweat.

“To you it would. Do you mind sharing your ability with me? I would like to see it,” she asked.

Ability: Ritualist

Ritualists are able to use skill books, cast ritual magic, and create their own summoning and ritual circles with minimal materials needed. Base Mana pool is significantly larger. 2-star effect: Able to use magical items to create ritual circles in the air. Able to use magical items to create runes in the air.

“Very interesting,” she mused. “I wonder if you will be able to use any type of magical items. This could be helpful for you in fighting if you wanted to use a magical sword or staff.” At this point she was more talking to herself than anything else. She was so fascinated with learning that she would get into these moments where she would start speculating in quiet murmurs without realizing that she was even doing it. Sometimes they would last an hour, but most, if interrupted, would be only a few short minutes.

“Professor, before you go down that path, I don’t want a magical sword. A staff would be helpful more than a sword. I can attack, I have attack spells, however, the purpose of this exam was defensive ritual magic.” Levi said.

“That is a fair boy, dear boy,” she said. “Very well, you passed with flying colors.”

“Guess I’m top of the class!” Levi said with a goofy smile. Professor Egret, Anza, and Willow who defused for this sole purpose, were not amused with Levi. He paid them no mind and walked out of the room. His lecture was over, and he had a couple hours before he met up with the girls. Levi decided to go to his room and review the notifications he had been avoiding.

Wisdom has gained 10

Wisdom is now at 135

Strength has gained 5

Strength is now at 46

Speed has gained 5

Speed is now at 47

Vitality has gained 15

Vitality is now at 69

Stamina has gained 5

Stamina is now at 45

Attributes Total: 342

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Strength 46

Stamina 45

Speed 47

Vitality 69

Wisdom 135

Levi has been training consistently and has gotten remarkably stronger. He has run into a plateau with his progression. It seems that every rank there is a portion of the rank that is much harder. It’s a considerable push to get you over those limits. Professor Bertrum explained it as the body’s way of adapting to the new strength.

“It’ll take a few weeks to a month to breakthrough the plateau and break the old habits of working out, to develop new ones that require you to push yourself so much,” he explained. “For some it happens early in their new rank, which those are the lucky ones. For others it happens towards the end of that current rank, which is the most unfortunate scenario. It’s cause you can taste the advancement but have hit your plateau. It seems like you are in your plateau, which is good, it’s early. You have to push yourself harder in all that you do, train much much harder.”

Levi was there now and although the professor said it was a good thing, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated. The progress he saw was from nearly a weeks’ worth of training AND when he killed that bandit. Even if his attributes didn’t reflect growth, he knew he was. His mile time was decreasing, he was able to swim more laps in the pool, he could stay up longer and sleep less. He was able to lift more in the weight room. Levi’s aura control was coming along great too. The help from Willow was imperative to his growth in aura control. The wisp did a great job at helping Levi look at auras and see how they differed and use those examples to help further his development.

Quest: What it Takes to be a Summoner - Completed (5/5) objectives met

Objective Basics of Ritual Magic - Completed

Reward: Staff of Summoning

Reward: Ritual Spell book

Levi pulled the staff out of his inventory. It was a rather basic staff; all black made of a material that was foreign to Levi. An odd mixture of plastic, metal, and wood. It was a meter long and had runes etched in it. Levi didn’t know what all the runes meant. He had a feeling we would learn. The staff could retract to a smaller size and fit where his wand currently was.

He liked the staff more because it could help him in close combat situations. Like with the bandit using the staff would have been helpful to keep his distance. Levi would learn how to use this and implement it into his training. Maybe he could spar and learn from Piper. She was a rogue after all.

Levi’s thoughts drifted back to the beautiful women. She was kind, goofy, loyal, and fun to be around. All major wins in Levi’s eyes. Her eyes, he could swim in the cloudy gray eyes. It had been nearly over a month, and they have hung out nearly every day. His feelings for her were becoming real.

He found himself wanting to have any excuse to be around her. Training, dinner, studying, you name it he’s thought of it. He was also enjoying his friendship with Anna. Anna was a brilliant woman. She was smart and she knew it. Her confidence was something to be admired. Levi was never the most confident person. He always envied those who were. From his perspective everything always came easy to them, like being confident was a way to make life easier. Deep down he knew that was naive thinking. He just hoped that would be an outcome he could have. That his life wouldn’t be so average if he was just more confident.

Which he was, now. As he got stronger his confidence rose. His familiars being the badasses they had also helped him with his confidence. The bandit was humbling forsure. It was a great lesson in the guild. It was a safe place, and the world was dangerous. It was a message to get stronger while it’s safe cause once that safety leaves if he’s not prepared, he’ll die.

With that delightful image in his head, he got up and went to the gym. He wanted to practice with his new staff. Levi spent the next hour twirling and swinging his staff. He was trying to recall all the action movies with people who used a staff like this and how they fought. That surprisingly was helpful, channeling the inner movie star he was able to get a solid feel for the weapon. By no means was he at expert level but it was at a level higher than novice.

Levi felt that he could swing the staff with some power and could feel how it was an extension of his arm. He did simple moves at first, keeping the staff close and tight to his body.

“That’s very good,” a female voice said.

“Hi!” Levi said too excitedly. He cleared his throat, “hey” he said in a fake deep voice. “What are you doing here?”

“I got done early and I wanted to see you,” Piper said leaning on the door frame. Levi tried his very best to look at her eyes and not her body perfectly positioned against the frame. Levi felt like he had a lump in his throat. It confirmed to him that he was very attracted to Piper.

“I’m glad,” he finally responded. Butterflies flying in his stomach.

“May I?” She asked.

“Of course,” Levi handed her his new staff.

“This is very nice,” she mused.

“Thank you, objective reward!” Levi said proudly.

“That is a handy ability.” Piper put her hair up into a bun to keep it out of her face. She handed the staff back to Levi. There was another staff to practice with made completely out of wood. “Your staff is made up of a magical mixture. Very strong, yet flexible, and durable. It’s called novakite. It’s one of the rarer mixtures there is. This should last you your lifetime and all your ranks.” She paused and looked at her weapon. She slammed the wooden staff on her knee to give her two smaller sticks. One in each hand.

“That was super dramatic,” Levi said. “I love it.” He got into his fighting stance. Piper took the time to show him different stances. First, she would demonstrate. She would then explain why this stance is important and what its function was. She then would correct his form with physical touch. Levi noticed that sometimes she would leave a lingering touch. By all accounts she was a phenomenal teacher. Levi learned so much.

“Okay, we’re going to do this meditative dance that’s a fighting technique as well. I’ll show you the moves and the steps. I don’t expect you to get it the first time but keep practicing it at the very least weekly.” Piper said. She started with a deep breath. She grabbed another staff that wasn’t broken. Her eyes focused. She began the first move she did what looked like a side lunge having the staff at chest level parallel to her body.

Next, she pivoted out of that and pushed the staff out with a thrust. She was holding the end of the pull. She quickly pivoted again with a chopping down motion, stopping the staff just before it hit the ground. She stood on one leg but her arm up and twirled the staff in the outstretched hand. Her next move Levi couldn’t believe, she bent over, still twirling the staff with one hand, she did a front flip while twirling the staff. She did a forward lunge with the staff at her side parallel to her trailing leg. She bowed.

“It’s short,” Piper said out of breath. “But with a partner its hard finding the same rhythm.”

“That was incredible,” Levi said. “What’s the purpose,”

“To build connection,” she replied slowly. She took a step closer, “with your weapon,” another step, “with your aura,” another step closer. She was now face to face with Levi, “and,” voice barely a whisper. “Your partner,” Levi swallowed hard. His heart was racing.

Levi had never really liked someone. Sure, he’s had crushes and attractions. Nothing really worthwhile. Piper was different, something about her set her apart from anyone else. It was clear that she had feelings for him, or she was the biggest flirt. So much so that if that were the case, he would need to reconsider their friendship.

“Then,” his voice a whisper. Taking in her sweet scent. He pressed his forehead into hers. She was not much shorter than him, only tens of centimeters. “We have a meditative dance to learn.”

“I guess we do,” Piper closed her eyes, feeling Levi's sweaty forehead. “Levi,” she said. He nodded. “I really like you, and I understand if you don’t like me back. I’ll be hurt, but I can bounce back.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her forehead. “Good, cause I thought I was imagining it.” They stayed in each other’s embrace for several moments. Not saying a word, eyes closed, soaking in each other’s presence.

“Ahem,” Anna cleared her throat. “Not that I don’t love love, but I’m starving.” Anna said with a smile. Levi laughed at that, gave Piper a kiss on the cheek, and walked past Anna. She gave him a gentle nod. Giving the women some time to themselves. Anna looked at her friend, “UM,” she said with excitement. Piper nodded her head slowly, fighting the smile that wanted to be permanently plastered on her face. She lost the battle and a huge grin exploded on her face.

“Yeah!” Piper said. Anna walked down to her friend and hooked her arm into Piper’s.

“Tell me everything!” Anna said in hushed tones. They started walking out to where Levi had been waiting. While walking Piper retold the story of how they were training with the new staff that Levi had gotten. She was teaching him how to use it and how it could be really useful for him. Anna soaked in every moment.

Unlike with the last boy who fawned after Piper, Anna trusted Levi. Even if she gave him a hard time, even if he got on her nerves, Levi was a good dude and had made it clear that he only wanted to be with Piper. He made that very clear from the start.

“You realize of course, our fathers will have to meet him,” Anna said.

“I do…” Piper said nervously.

“The cold season is almost upon us. Classes will be cancelled for a couple weeks, let’s bring him with us,” Anna said. “The easy sell will be he’s a foreigner at the summoners guild, no classmates, no other friends.”

“I like that plan,” Piper said. “Do you think he will?”

“Let’s hope that he can fight monsters by the time the break comes, it is not an easy journey home.”