Merlin sat on his bed pondering once again. It had been just a few months short of 5 years since he had awakened his status and he was considering what class he should take. Like any person at his age would be thinking of what class they would take. It affected the rest of their life and they could only change under the grace of the gods, however that only really occurred when the gods took a champion.

Taking another look at his skills Merlin perused the various categories of skills he had. The first he looked at were his general skills. Here he had Cooking, Cleaning, Sewing, and a few other miscellaneous skills that people would acquire throughout life that would not go past Novice without specialization in a class. Most of these he had in Novice with only a few of the lesser used ones still in Initiate.

Next up was his Mage skills. He had managed to get Fire Magic, Water Magic, and Air Magic all on his first tries at them, which astounded Austin even more than he was already. Adding those along with the Water Magic they were all High Initiate and had managed to stay that way for a few months now. Alongside those he his beloved Mana Sight and Mana Manipulation. Though they did not have skill levels his applications of them had grown. He however, did not like how the other kids treated him like a match for starting the fire though. Merlin was really eager to have more skills for Mages, however he had been informed by Austin that no more common ones existed other than the basic magic ones. The rest were all acquired under life threatening danger, which neither he nor Austin wanted to go through.

Under what people would consider Warrior skills was only two skills. Running and Perseverance. Both of the skills were still only at Low Initiate as he only managed to get them a few months ago. The Running skill allowed him to run longer and faster more efficiently, while Perseverance gave him a general decrease in stamina consumption no matter the action. A second effect Perseverance had that truly classified it as a Warrior class was that it reduced cost of ki for skills.

Now while he had managed to get a few more stat points while training his skills he had no gain in Endurance than what he had initially training. That meant he still did not have access to Ki. He had managed to get an point in strength, vitality, and coordination through the physical training and chores he had to do. Then from training magic he had managed to gain three points in intelligence and wisdom, with a shocking increase in willpower at six points.

If this kept up until his class selection he would have to go without ki for the rest of his life. For most people this would be terrible, Merlin felt strangely at peace with the idea as though it suited him better than waving a sword around.

As he had practiced his Magic skills over the last few years Austin told him the only way to improve was to practice alot. This was the idea for almost every skill with a few exceptions. However just doing it over and over again felt wrong. He could not describe it in any detail and any attempt to talk to Austin about it was just waved off.

However, the feeling went away a bit when he was allowed to practice by himself after almost two years of practice. Before he would cast a spell until he could no longer continue due to lacking mana or low on his willpower. Austin’s explanation of why willpower was used was because the soul could only handle so much magic at one time, just like a warrior’s body could only withstand so much ki coursing through before harmful side effects would start to occur.

It was like Merlin was just missing a crucial piece of the puzzle and everything would just fall into place.

Sighing Merlin got up from the bed and went outside to a range that was separate from the warrior area so he could practice without worrying about hurting others and not take the field from any archers.

Almost a year later after he started practicing solo, Merlin started doing a routine he had set up. Merlin would sit down and close his eyes in concentration. He would then activate Mana Sight and slowly speak the words for an Airball. Instead of letting all the mana rush out of his body at once for the spell, Merlin used Mana Manipulation to slowly insert one point of mana at a time while observing the spell via Mana Sight.

Merlin had discovered on accident while he was casually using Mana Sight that it was not tied directly to his eyes, but instead to his soul and could ‘see’ no matter what. It was this discovery that lead him to do this practice method.

It was this method that Merlin would slowly make progress. For anyone else at that point it would have been a strain on their willpower and would only be able to do this once they passed level 50, but by then they would not even bother as it was to weak.

It was not without its rewards though. A month after he started he reached Middle Initiate in all his magic skills. Keeping with this method he could feel himself rapidly improving as though this was what was meant to happen.

Still, Merlin had felt the discomfort from before present. The source he was almost entirely sure off. It was how other were to do this if they did not Mana Sight. With how Austin described this could not be a common skill and so that would eliminate almost everyone.

Not knowing what to do Merlin continued to practice when he felt something give way.

NOTICE! Air Magic has ranked up! Due to increase in Air Magic the spell, Wind Blade, has been unlocked.

Merlin sat there frozen as his magic dissipated in the world as he did not finish the chant or even give the mana needed for the spell.

He had talked to Austin quite a bit about anything and everything that Mages had done before. The earliest time someone became a Novice in a magic was when they were level 12 which would have a large advantage over him.

Yet here he sat not even able to level and he had just ranked up in magic. Eager to use the new spell Merlin brought up its information.

Spell Name: Wind Blade Chant: Air coalesce and become my blade that I may detroy my enemy, Wind Blade. Unlock Conditions: Air Magic Rank: Novice Spell Cost: Mana Cost: 50 Willpower Reserved: 3

Seeing it confirmed on both the skill screen and the spell status Merlin was shocked. He had become a Novice!

Like a child with a new toy Merlin immediately put it to good use.

“Air coalesce and become my blade that I may destroy my enemy, Wind Blade.”

Since it was his first time using it Merlin did not use either Mana Sight or Mana Manipulation so that way he can get a feel for how the spell should react under ideal conditions.

While he was not able to see anything initially he was not disappointed and waited a little longer. Not a moment after that the target he had been aiming at all of a sudden had its top slide off.

Surprised by the development Merlin went forward to look at the target. Inspecting the edge along which the target was split he was shocked to see that it was smooth like one of the warrior kids came up and cut it.

Even when Merlin was practicing normally the only time he had managed to damage the targets like this was when he used Fire Magic and he did not do it often to not waste targets. He was more likely to launch them either in the lake nearby or the air. It helped distract the younger ones at times.

Shaking his head to focus Merlin walked back to where normally stood to do magic. This time he used Mana Sight and Mana Manipulation to to slowly let the magic form. Instead of forming a ball like with the Airball this formed a thin half-circle facing forward that took little mana to form. Most of the magic went towards increasing the speed of the spell. This time Merlin saw as it sliced the target in half again before disappearing a few feet beyond.

Excited by the new spell he spent the rest of the day until it turned into the night using it before he felt a headache come on and a popup to accompany it.

Burdened Will: Makes concentration difficult 30 mins

Seeing the contents realized just how deep he had engrossed himself in the new spell. Deciding he should have stopped an hour ago Merlin went inside determined to see if he can get the other magics up to Novice also.

A few days later and several lectures by Arwen for being so reckless later Merlin finally had all the magics up to Novice. For each rank up, a spell accompanied with it.

Spell Name: Fire Bolt Chant: Come great fire and let me unleash my fury on my enemies, Fire Bolt. Unlock Conditions: Fire Magic Rank: Novice Spell Cost: Mana Cost: 50 Willpower Reserved: 3 Spell Name: Stone Cannon Chant: Oh firm earth come do what I cannot and scatter my enemy, Stone Cannon. Unlock Conditions: Earth Magic Rank: Novice Spell Cost: Mana Cost: 50 Willpower Reserved: 3 Spell Name: Water Scythe Chant: Giver of life water come and take the life you have given, Water Scythe. Unlock Conditions: Water Magic Rank: Novice Spell Cost: Mana Cost: 50 Willpower Reserved: 3

Of the spells unlocked Wind Blade was undoubtedly the fastest of them. Fire Bolt looked similar to an arrow and had the most destructive power with a little explosion happening after it collided. Arwen did not appreciate Merlin waking the little ones from their nap when he tested it. Stone Cannon was also a ball but one could tell by looking at it that it was much denser, but it was less deadly than the other spells but had great power in delaying or forcing an enemy to where you want them to go. Water Scythe mimicked the Wind Blade in looks and was the jack of all. Merlin just felt like Water Magic did not like being used for it in that form.

Unsure about what to do with the new information Merlin decided to keep it to himself. He was not sure why but he felt like something was watching him with hate. It had not been the first time he felt it, and the hate in the stare only seemed to increase with time. He could never find the source and nothing had happened so ignored so far. However, something told him that their would be action if he told someone.

Feeling a little helpless about the situation Merlin continued to train until he had to stop for the day. As he continued training his resolve become unshakeable. When the class selection came about he would undoubtable chose mage!