Ray Pov*

"Finally I have ranked up"

Cultivation is indeed a slow form of gathering experience, it took Ray 4 hours just to cultivate 200 experience. there was also a limit of 4 hours cultivation per day so that a magician does not exhaust their magic energy.

"Status Screen"

Name - Ray Violet

Magic - Fire

Rank - Novice 1 (1/800) (Life + 5)

Strength - 5 Agility - 4 Defence - 7 Intelligence - 13

Skills - None

"My life force increased!, and so has my stats"

the average life expectancy of a human is 80 years, magicians could increase their life expectancy by ranking up due to their magic energy.

"I can reach Novice two in four days!"

Ray got up from his bed and headed towards the classroom, the sun had already begun to set darkening the academy.

Knock Knock

"Come in"

Cassius who was inside the classroom welcomed Ray in, to his surprise Alice was also there. he made his way towards Cassius's desk before bowing to show his respect.

"Teacher I would like access to the Phoenix library, I have already reached novice 1 and would like to acquire some skills"

Cassius had mentioned this in class, once the student reached novice one they were able to use the Phoenix library allowing them to obtain a skill.

"Looks like you're the third one here Ray, Lucifer was here a few hours ago he has already chosen a skill book"

Cassius got up from his desk whilst signalling Alice and Ray to follow him. Upon hearing Lucifer's name Alice remembered the scene this morning causing her to blush.

"Hi my name is Ray"

Due to the awkward encounter, Ray tried to start a conversation to lighten the mood.

"yes I know that I'm in the same class as you"

"Of course you do..."

Alice who was interested in Lucifers identity questioned Ray, she had seen them together during the magic ceremony and wondered if Ray had any idea about his background. however, she had no luck Ray didn't really know where Lucifer came from.

"Your friends with him and yet you don't know anything about him?"

"Well yeah, he doesn't really talk about himself, although I would like to meet his parents who on earth would name their son after a mythical being"

"Mythical being?"

Alice wore a confused expression, which for some reason Ray found cute causing him to blush.

"Y-Yeah Lucifer Morningstar the bringer of Light" (Ray)

"How ironic he has high affinity with Dark magic" (Alice)

"Ironic indeed..." (Cassius)

Cassius seemed to be listening to their conversation, he to was interested in Lucifer Morningstar why would a being with the dark magic name himself after the bringer of light.

"Well the light bringer is a Myth, a being with the light attribute more powerful than Astia will never exist" (Cassius)

Cassius who was a devoted believer of the light didn't believe in myths such as the Light-bringer. if the light bringer actually existed wouldn't that mean Astia isn't the supreme ruler of light.

"Anyways were here, go inside whilst wearing these badges. you have 10 minutes to find a skill book that is suitable to your taste remember you can only pick two novice skill books so choose wisely"

Alice and Ray both accepted the badges whilst showing their gratitude to their teacher. both of them headed inside the library in order to pick a suitable skill book for their magic affinity. the skill books within the library were brought from the wilderness, upon killing beast they have a rare chance of dropping these skill books.

Ray got separated from Alice as soon as he went inside, each element had their own section which meant they had to go to different areas. Ray arrived at the Novice 1 Fire section and made his way in, he only had 10 minutes to pick two skill books so he had to choose wisely.

"Let's see I need an offensive skill and a defensive one"

Ray scrolled around the bookshelf trying to find a suitable skill for his rank, he spent 7 minutes inside before picking two skill books which he was satisfied with. upon using them they both disappeared and caused changes in Rays status screen. he had acquired the knowledge to cast both skills without the need to study.

"Skill Screen"

Fire Ball Projection - Forms a small fireball which can be launched at a target causing a burst of flame on impact (1/50)

Fire Bomb - A small burning flame is formed which bursts after 10 seconds can be placed down to act as a time bomb allowing the user to catch the enemy by surprise (1/50)

"Ok these should do, too bad I couldn't find a defensive skill"

Ray made his way out of the library and went back to his room to rest since the practice area was closed he couldn't test his new skills.

Lucifer Pov*

"Since I'm going to follow the rules of the system I have to adjust my strength a bit, while I'm at it ill fix the other stats as well by limiting myself"

Lucifer had decided to live as a human in order to fully understand what it means to be one since he was participating in the class it would only be fair if he put a limiter on himself.

"Status screen"

Name - Lucifer Morningstar

Magic - Dark

Rank - Novice 1 (150/200)

Strength - 15 Agility - 12 Defence - 16 Intelligence - 20

"Ok that should do, I also selected two skills this morning seems like I was the first one to reach Novice 1"

"Skill Screen"

Shadow Form - Enables the user to turn into a shadow allowing them to blend in with the darkness (0/50)

Shadow Arms - The user can manipulate one shadow arm, can be used for combat to wield an extra weapon and also contains strength surpassing the human capabilities (0/50)

"Shadow arm sounds useful since I can sneak around ill use daggers and become a full on rogue. this is just like those Rpg games I played back in hell"

Since Dark magic hardly appeared especially with such a high Affinity most of the books were untouched which meant Lucifer had access to most of the Skill books without having to worry about losing them. the night went by peacefully since Lucifer had nothing to do he was playing around with his shadow form and shadow arm within his room causing them to level up.

Shadow Arms Rank 2- The user can manipulate Two shadow arm, can be used for combat to wield an extra weapon and also contains strength surpassing the human capabilities (Speed & Strength Increase)(Two Shadow Arms) (2/200)

Shadow Form Rank 2 - Enables the user to turn into a shadow allowing them to blend in with the darkness, has a low chance of evading Rank 1 magic projectiles when activated (1/200)

Shadow Form allowed Lucifers body to become ghost like, he turned into a black shadow which could sink into the ground and blend into the darkness. after a while of playing around with his new skills, he decided to rest since he had to meet Ray tomorrow morning.

"Lucifer"

Ray waved at Lucifer who slowly made his way towards the classroom, Alice who was next to Ray had decided to tag along with them since both Ray and Alice wanted to test their new skills. She tried her best to avoid making eye contact with Lucifer.

"where are we heading?"

"To the practice area, I want to test my new skills"

"Ok Lead the way"

Ray had already memorised the way the night before so he decided to lead, leaving Alice behind with Lucifer.

"So we meet again"

"What are you doing?"

Lucifer had both his hands on his cheeks which confused Alice.

"Protecting myself from your evil hands"

Alice had previously slapped Lucifer for no reason, he only wanted to get to know her.

"My Evil Hands!?"

Lucifer stepped back and pretended to be in great distress.

"Don't harm me, young mistress"

Ray who was silently watching them giggled at the scene, he hadn't expected Lucifer to have a connection with Alice already.

"Lucifer what did you do to her, I'm pretty sure she's angry for a reason?"

"I wanted to befriend her, but it turns out lowly commoners like us arent worth of that"

Lucifer tried to make Alice feel guilty which further enraged her.

"Liar!"

"He asked me if I wanted to 'Cultivate' with him in my room!"

Noticing that she had said that out loud caused her to blush.

"Whats wrong with cultivating together with a friend?"

Ray asked cluelessly as he looked at Alice waiting for an answer.

"Hush mistress don't corrupt my friend with your dirty thoughts"

Before Alice could answer his question Lucifer gripped Ray's hand and rushed towards the Practice grounds, leaving her behind.

"Dirty thoughts? ILL DROWN YOU"

Alice ran behind them and caught up, they had already arrived at the practice grounds. there were various students in the surrounding practising with the dummies. since magic was sometimes destructive the dummies were supported by magic energy enabling them to recover after they were damaged.

"Ok Ray go ahead and show us your skills"

Lucifer encouraged ray to showcase his skills, Ray who was eager to test them out nodded vigorously before heading to the dummy. He Charged his magic energy and executed Fireball projection enabling him to gather a ball of condensed fire in his hand which he then launched at the dummy, surprisingly the blast caused by the fireball was much more destructive than he had expected it was most likely due to his high affinity.

"Wow no wonder Teacher Cassius said fire was a destructive element"

Alice who witnessed the scene admired the raw power of fire magicians they were truly fit for combat.

"Whats your second skill?" (Lucifer)

"Fire Bomb"

"isn't that the same as fireball?" (Alice)

Ray smiled as he was waiting for this moment if used correctly firebomb would be a devastating skill. he was truly lucky to get his hands on it.

"Watch this"

Ray condensed another ball of fire and launched it at the dummy, but this time it didn't burst it just dropped near the dummy upon impact. Alice and Lucifer waited for a few seconds but nothing happened.

"Did you do something wro..." (Alice)

Boom!

The ball of fire burst into flames creating a big explosion much larger than the previous one, it caught the attention of the surrounding students who were in a state of shock how could a Novice 1 magician create such a huge explosion.

"Nice" (Lucifer)

Alice who was beside Lucifer was dazed before she regained her composure.

"That's some destructive power you've got there" (Alice)

"Ok I'm next" (Alice)

She waited for the dummy to recover before casting her skill, a Thin layer of water appeared before her launching itself towards the dummy which cleanly cut it in half. Alice was pleased with the outcome causing her to cheer in joy.

"That looks really dangerous" (Lucifer)

"Yeah I learnt it so I could cut my enemies in half"

Alice gave a sinister smile as she glanced at Lucifer.

"I also learnt this"

Alice raised her hand slowly transforming it into the water, she quickly flung her hand towards the dummy causing a cut at the centre of its body.

"That's a useful skill" (Ray)

"How about you Lucifer, what skills did you learn" (Alice)

"Wouldnt you like to know"

Lucifer grinned whilst walking away from the dummy.

"Wait that's not fair we showed you our skills" (Ray)

"Ugh" (Alice)

"I'll show you another time, besides do any of you have daggers?"

"Yeah I do, my father is a bit overprotective and gave me two magic engraved daggers" (Alice)

"Magic engraved?" (Lucifer)

"It increases the capability of the dagger, for example, its sharpness and endurance" (Ray)

"Ill hand them to you for 6 gold"

"G-gold!" (Ray)

Ray who came from a commoners village had never seen gold before, it was a currency which only rich people could get their hands on.

"Of course this world has a currency" (Lucifer)

Lucifer exclaimed as if he had been enlightened

"Whats with you two?" (Alice)

She gazed at Lucifesympatheticmpathic eyes, how unfotunate specially for lucifer to be born with such low intellect.

"So you don't have the gold?"

"No, but I can pay you back later" (Lucifer)

"Whatever, here take them don't forget to pay me back" (Alice)

For some reason Alice thought she could trust both Lucifer and Ray, Judging from their personalities they didn't carry any evil intentions towards her. Alice took how two daggers from her bag and tossed them towards Lucifer, they were both silver daggers with magic markings around the surface.

"It has increased sharpness and reduced weight" (Alice)

"Thank you" (Lucifer)

"Both of you better head back and cultivate, we have an examination at the end of this month. it's more like a tournament"

Alice was the first one to leave as she wanted to cultivate and raise her rank, after a few minutes of talking Ray decided to head back to his room as well.

"I guess I'll go back and rank up"

"Lewis you already lost twice just wait for the tournament that's your best opportunity"

Lewis who was glaring at Lucifer with disdain controlled his anger, he had already been humiliated twice and was waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike back.

"Your right Alisa, now that I have 3 skills I will be able to destroy him in front of a crowd. that would be the perfect revenge"