Four weeks passed by in a flash, and Merlin found himself a day away from Prestige Academy's assessment exam, which he had been notified of weeks ago.
Nora hadn't exactly been bothered when the mail had come in; it was not like she'd had to hurry up with anything in particular, after all, seeing as she could already cast spells up to Tier II. So, to her, it had just been like receiving a mail of the pick up of an order she had made.
To Merlin, however, it had been a wake up call—if he had not already been woken up before. And he did well to follow through, making sure the rest of his days didn't see him slacking, which brought him to being so engrossed in his training and practice that he'd had little to no time for anything else.
"I still don't get how boxing is meant to help you pass a Mage exam," Sunny said as another of Merlin's jab struck his pad. "I thought you were learning it as a hobby and for self defence? How did we get to it relating to a Mage exam?"
Merlin was still a bit sensitive about giving Sunny the real reason for that, because he didn't want to be laughed at. All he'd told the ginger-haired man was that he really needed to be good at it to some extent before the exam. But he thought that maybe now would be a good time to at least give some sort of plausible reason for forcing Sunny to keep up with his eagerness, even if it was a lie. After all, Sunny had been asking him that question continually for weeks.
"It's because I'm not really sure if I'll be able to continue if I get into the Academy, or even otherwise," Merlin muttered with heavy breaths, careful so as to not bite his tongue, while throwing a sequence of two jabs and a cross, all landing on the strike pad Sunny wore.
"Eh… I doubt that," said Sunny, flexing his muscles as they both took a second's break. "I've never met a Mage who didn't have hobbies outside of their Academy or whatever."
Merlin blinked as he closed the gap between both of them again, sweat dripping from his brows and soaking his shirt. "You've got a lot of Mage friends?"
Sunny licked his lips as Merlin's strikes connected with his pads again. "Nah. I've got no friend that's a Mage. Just acquaintances."
Merlin felt offended. He'd thought that with all the time they'd spent in the company of one another these past few weeks they'd become more than just acquaintances. Janeth, for one, had been more than happy to include Merlin and Nora in her friend's list as quickly as possible. Granted, that list was not particularly long, but still…
In fact, Merlin didn't want to keep shut about it.
"I thought we were friends," he said, throwing an uppercut that was aptly blocked. "I'm hurt."
"Don't be," Sunny smiled. "You're not yet a Mage now, are you?"
Merlin scoffed. "I guess you're right." He struck again.
The boxing gym they were in was not a standard one in any way, and it would never be licensed by an athletic commission even if the world was coming to an end a second time. After all, it was just Sunny's musty garage where he kept his bikes—apparently, bikes were one of the things he loved—refurbished to hold a couple punching bags, a small area to fit what could be called a ring, and a few dumbbells, which baffled Merlin.
He had thought that Sunny hated those so-called metals like Janeth had claimed he did. But when he had asked, Sunny had told him that it was not like he hated weights and all, it was just that he was not obsessed with them. And, besides, he wouldn't be a very good boxer if he didn't train his strength and power, would he? It was an answer Merlin had been pleased with; and slowly he had become pleased with training in Sunny's garage as well, feeling more and more at home as the days trickled by.
"We're back!" Janeth hooted as she and Nora walked into the garage, plastic bags in both their hands.
"You're still going at it?" Nora asked with a frown, her question directed at Merlin. "You know tomorrow's the assessment, right? What good would it be if you wear yourself out now?"
"I'm not wearing myself out," Merlin argued as he wiped sweat off his forehead. "I'm practicing."
"Yeah; until you drop dead, right? Same difference."
This was why he had been against her coming with him. She had complained so much the first time that he had completely stopped her from coming with him whenever he had his evening boxing lessons. This time, though, Janeth had wanted all of them together…for some reason.
"Now, now. Let's eat first before you guys argue," Janeth said with a smile, shaking the plastic bag in the air before moving over to a corner to set the things they'd bought in place.
"Thank you," Sunny said with relief. "This guy's stamina is no joke. It's like he never gets tired."
"I know right," Janeth supported. "You should see him during the day; always raring to go. It's always like I'm gonna lose my mind."
Merlin flushed. He had not realized that he was stressing Janeth out. She should have just told him, he would have either dialed down his obsession with training, or just moved out of her way to continue on his own.
"Geez… She's joking, Merlin," Nora sighed with a shake of her head as she noticed Merlin's expression change. "You take everything to heart too much."
"I do not." Merlin's head jerked back slightly. "I just don't like being a bother to anyone."
"Huh?" Janeth blinked owlishly. "Wait. Oh, no, Merlin. I was not trying to say you were. Nora's right; I was just joking."
"Uhm… Where's my extra spicy chicken?" Sunny asked with furrowed brows as he rummaged through the plastic bags. The ongoing conversation was none of his concern. "Muscle-woman, you didn't get my extra spicy chicken?!"
"Shut it, quack," Janeth shot back. "Can't you see I'm talking to someone?"
Merlin appreciated the shift in topic, and exhaled with a drop of his shoulders. He then took off his gloves and sat down in what seemed to be his designated spot.
"Here." Nora slid a take-out his way, followed by a can of juice.
"Thank you," replied Merlin.
"I seriously think you should take a break now," she continued. "You've been at it for weeks, at least make use of the rest of today to take a breather and rest up in preparation for tomorrow. I'm serious; you'll break down at this rate."
Merlin nodded. She was right. He too believed he had been overexerting his muscles for the past four weeks now, tripling how much workout he did in a day. He knew that the only reason he had been able to carry on was because he always made use of his free Attribute Points as some sort of pain reliever. However, he knew that continuing in such a manner was probably a bad idea. It was like taking sleeping pills regularly, its nasty side effects were bound to come. If he went on with his ways, it would be bad for him.
After all, it was not like the points healed the damages or stress in his muscles, they only dampened it for the moment they were used. His muscles still needed to fix themselves on their own, as was human nature. He couldn't have all his accumulated stress hitting straight at his core one day.
Merlin was glad, though, he had at least progressed so much because of that.
He pulled out his phone and clicked on the blue eye icon that represented his System's app, as he picked up one of the chicken wings that made up his pack, and dipped it into his mouth.
[BIO-DATA]
NAME: Merlin Tyrrell
AGE: 17
MAGE CLASS: Deficient
SYSTEM CLASS: ???
[ATTRIBUTES]
STRENGTH: LV. 8
AGILITY: LV. 10
INTELLIGENCE: LV. 3
PERCEPTION: LV. 6
RESILIENCE: LV. 13
[PERKS]:
Reader Mage: Analyze and deconstruct spells, rendering magic completely ineffective against you. Current Intelligence Level remains significantly low. Not all spells can be deconstructed.
[Blue Quests ongoing (2):
Strengthen your body, Merlin Tyrrell. (The strength of a Mage not only lies in their prowess with magic, but also in their physicality. A better body makes a better Mage.)
Be clear of mind and spirit, Merlin Tyrrell. (If you are quiet enough, you will hear the flow of the universe. You will feel its rhythm. Go with this flow. Meditation is key. A better mind and soul makes a better Mage.)]
[Progress to leveling up Strength: 74.25%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Agility: 68%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 56%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Perception: 17.5%/100%]
[Progress to leveling up Resilience: 30%/100%]
[Free Attribute Points received: 10]
Merlin's progress impressed him. It had seemed like something completely impossible to him a while back as he recalled how he had always grumbled, and Nora would try to bring him down to earth by telling him how quickly he was actually improving. Now that he looked at his interface, he could see that she had been right.
He had leveled up his Strength and Agility four times, his Intelligence and Perception once, and his Resilience nine times. And he was already inching closer to leveling up once again.
It was surprising, but it was the result of his hard work. He had doubled, no, tripled his workouts, and had not missed a single day. And he had also made sure to set out time to meditate in the morning—progressing his Perception—and study his mana at night for his Intelligence. All those activities of his had become a routine, and they had come together to help with his progress. He would take every praise for it.
And yet I'm still unable to deconstruct Nora's spell… Merlin sighed as he chewed and swallowed his food. Apparently, level three of his Intelligence was not where he needed to be to have a shot at deconstructing an A-Class Mage's Tier II magic.
There was something else that surprised Merlin more than that, though, and it was the fact that Nora was yet to break into Tier III of her spell casting. It was baffling, to say the least; after all, he had taught her how to fall into a trance and study her mana, so he felt like she should have made some significant progress regarding that. But it had been otherwise.
And it was not like she was not constantly training as well. Sure, she was not putting in as much of the effort as he did, but she was not just seated all day playing games. Which brought him to only one conclusion, sharpening mana to the extent that would be required of it to create a Tier III spell was a daunting procedure. It would take some time.
Maybe I should look for a way to help her with that? If I search through Singularity Mage I should be able to find something. I've just been so occupied with building myself that I've not had the time to help her out in any way. We should have a chat.
Merlin sighed again.
"Why do you keep doing that?" Nora asked, her usual distaste for constant sighing at the tip of her tongue.
"My bad." Merlin was not planning on teasing her at this time, so he just stopped.
"You know, Merlin," Janeth started, they were all seated now, eating. "I don't think I ever mentioned how crazy your growth has been. You've gained so much more muscle compared to when you walked into the gym that day. And they're quite firm too."
Merlin could feel heat rising from his neck like he was a kettle. If she said anymore, he would definitely become the reddest he'd ever been near her.
"Stop teasing him, Jane," Nora chimed in.
"I'm just stating my observations," she said.
"You should have observed that you hadn't gotten my extra spicy chicken instead of checking out a guy's muscles." Sunny snorted, and their bickering almost began if only Janeth had not suddenly recalled something.
"Ah… That reminds me. Did you guys see the news? The whole Dungeon Break stuff?" she reported, eyes glistening with enthusiasm regarding the topic.
Merlin had come to realize for a while now that Jane was not only obsessed with muscles and magic, she was also quite into monsters and what existed within the Dungeons and Towers. Basically, besides muscles, she was interested in everything that came with the cataclysm, including that itself.
"What about it?" Sunny asked, evidently oblivious.
He was the polar opposite of Janeth. He preferred shamanism to all that, and as such barely checked the news about anything related to magic and monsters. For a guy who ran a Mage gym, that was funny. Perhaps that shared a hand in why it had failed.
Janeth became animated. She raised her arms high.
"Monsters have been pouring out lately."