The First Night

Earlier that day, a small group of adventurers was hunting in an Elean forest.

Frank and Dave were both 1* Apprentice Mages, trying to get some practice in a forest nearby their town, Acrine. The both of them had been killing animals all day, but couldn't find their way back to Acrine... The sun was already about to set down.

"You reckon it's to the right or left?" Dave embarrassingly asked.

"I think both of those options are wrong, we should just turn around and walk that way! Isn't Acrine where the sun goes down? Or is it where the sun rises..."

"It's about to become dark... You know what happens to these animals when it turns dark... We should just set up camp in a safe spot while we still have some brightness!"

"Eh, you're right. We can still find our way back tomorrow!"

It didn't take them long to find a piece of land that was perfect to camp on. They set up their tent, and prepared their spot to avoid monsters finding them.

Dave quickly set up the formation his teacher gave him, to hide their scent and tent. You could stand right in front of the formation, but you still wouldn't be able to see or smell a thing!

As they felt safe, the both of them ate some dinner and then quickly dozed off.

A couple of hours later, a scream woke them up from their sweet dreams.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

"Who's foolish enough to run around screaming at night?" Frank wondered as he scratched his eyes.

"Eh, let's just hope he doesn't stay and keep us awake for too long. There's no way he'd find us with my teacher's formation up anyw--"

CRASH

Dave got interrupted as their tent collapsed. Someone had run into their tent!

He couldn't figure out how someone managed to find them? They had used his teacher's powerful formation!

Of course, the person who ran into their tent was none other than Steve, chased by hundreds of monsters!

"F**k! I ran into somebody else's tent and got them into trouble as well," Steve thought.

He saw two little boys in pajamas hurriedly crawling out of the ruined tent.

'It seems like they're only 10 years old boys, what are these two kids even doing here camping in this dangerous area?!'

"Quick, get out of there!" Steve shouted while he continued running.

The two boys then looked into the distance and saw hundreds of monsters coming right for them!

'Senior, why did you get us into trouble?! How did you even find us...' the boys cried out in silence, as they started running for their lives as well.

A few moments later, they caught up to Steve. The three of them came to a halt shortly after. They were completely surrounded by the monsters. Everywhere they looked, they saw red glowing eyes in the dark, glaring at them...

"Senior, what do we do now?" The scared boys asked.

Steve started internally crying. 'These kids think I'm their senior? I'm not that old! I've only just turned 31...'

'On top of that, I don't even have a single ability or weapon! How do they expect me to stop these monsters? These kids are probably stronger than me...'

'Oh well, since they dared insult me... I might as well abuse my senior status hehe!'

"Use everything you've got! This senior will check out junior's abilities! You can do it!" he said with his face held high. Might as well give them the thumbs up too!

[Ding! Shamelessness +1]

...

'There's a stat for being shameless? What kind of system is this?! You're the shameless one, your whole family is shameless!' thought the depressed Steve.

The boys had no clue what to do. They weren't prepared for this. One had to know that a 1* Apprentice Mage could only barely kill animals during the day.

At night, animals transform from cute little animals to ferocious, bloodthirsty monsters. For example, the bunny Steve encountered earlier would be a cute, small bunny during the day. Now, however, the 'bunny' had grown 5 times its normal size. It had gained a horn on its head and grew fangs that could pierce a metal plate.

"We're only 1* Apprentice Mages! We can't even handle a single one of these animals at nighttime... Can't you see there are thousands of them out there?!" Dave and Frank sobbed as they tried to look for a solution.

'Could this guy be sent by master, to see how we would handle this situation?' Dave thought. He sighed as he came to the realization this senior wouldn't help them out.

"Seems like we can only try casting that spell," the little boy said.

Frank gave an affirmative nod. It was their last hope for survival.

"SUNLIGHT BARRIER!" Dave and Frank shouted in unison.

A dazzling light started coming out of their mouth. It quickly merged together and started forming a barrier made out of sunlight around them. The sunlight would keep away the monsters, which were empowered by the darkness that falls upon them at night.

If a monster were to come into direct contact with the barrier, they would screech in pain as the sunlight would burn them.

Dave and Frank almost collapsed after finishing their spell. As a matter of fact, this spell was way above their current limit. They attempted casting it a lot before, but it's like their master always said: only life-threatening situations will be able to push their bodies to the limit.

'So this is what magic is! Amazing!' Steve was impressed. After all, this was the first time he saw someone cast a spell. He couldn't help but gasp at this display.

Fortunately, the boys didn't notice this, or he would be quickly exposed as a false senior!

'Why can't I cast magic though... This system is so unfair...' he sulked.

After resting for a couple of minutes inside the barrier, both boys started recovering their depleted mana.

Mana was the energy supply needed to perform magic in this world. Every mage had a mana pool, you were either born with it, or you weren't. There was a pretty high chance to be born as a mage, almost 60% of the population was able to cast spells.

After training spells a lot, a mage's mana pool would expand. However, just effort wouldn't do. A mage also needed insight into magic, or they would quickly reach a bottleneck.

The two apprentice mages still had a very small mana pool. Through collaborating and fully exhausting their mana pool, they were barely able to execute the spell.

"We did it! We finally did it! We were able to cast a tier 2 spell! We might be able to pass the test to become 2* Apprentice Mages now!" Frank happily said. Both kids looked absolutely thrilled at the idea they would be able to increase in rank!

"What is so great about becoming a 2* Apprentice Mage anyway?" Steve said as he thought an apprentice mage is still just an apprentice.

The boys looked up in awe, 'this senior doesn't even bat an eye at apprentice mages, it's like we're ants in his eyes! Would he perhaps be a Grand Mage?!'

"Senior... As you know, only 20% of Apprentice Mages ever manage to advance in ranks!" Dave said.

"Most Apprentice Mages stay stuck at 1* forever. They just become commoners, as their magic isn't able to evolve. Advancing a rank is still a great achievement for us..."

"Becoming a rank 2* Apprentice Mage is the start to become a Grand Mage. Maybe I could even become the Chief of the 'Order of the Sun'!" he continued while starting to dream about his future.

Elea had a ranking system for their mages. Once a mage was born, they would automatically be a 1* Apprentice Mage. Only through years of effort, would one be able to advance to a 2* Apprentice Mage.

To advance, a mage had to go towards a Mage Hall, where their mana pool would be measured. If they passed the requirements for a higher rank, they would receive a robe representing their rank. 1* Apprentice Mages wouldn't get a robe, as there were too many. A 2* Apprentice Mage, however, would receive their first robe!

A mage's robe, even at the lowest 2* rank, would cause many people to look up to them in admiration. After all, it signified that the mage had started their path to become a Grand Mage!

"En, it's good to dream big! I believe you two little fellows will become a Grand Mage soon!" Steve said, "Now, let's quickly spend the night in this cozy barrier and hope these monsters go away!"

'Of course the monsters will go away... Once dawn breaks, they become cute little animals... This senior is too strange!' the boys thought.

'You ruined our tent too... We have to sleep on the ground now... This senior is the worst...'

While the boys were sulking, Steve fell asleep as soon as he laid down. After all, he had crossed worlds today, he was quite exhausted.

A few seconds later, sounds could be heard.

'Ghhoooooon pshhhhhhh'

'Ghooooooonkkk pshhhhhhhh'

'hngGGggh-Ppbhww '

'This senior snores too... This senior really is the worst...'