Leveling Up

Immediately after Thomas uttered the word of confirmation, the system showed a couple of new messages.

[Congratulations on leveling up!]

[You are now level 2!]

[Evolution will now begin!]

Thomas was flooded with pain around his head and ears. It felt like something was changing. Alex and Corbin took notice of Thomas writhing in agony.

"Hey are you okay?" Alex made it right on time to pick Thomas up and support him before he almost fell after stuttering his step.

"Do you want to head for the infirmary before we inform Cassie?" Corbin asked worriedly.

Thomas shook his head.

"Must be all the adrenaline wearing off, ha-ha!" Thomas laughed it off.

"Yeah you bet! I feel exhausted mate!" Alex sighed loudly.

Corbin and Alex shared a quick look then grinned back at Thomas.

"After we inform Cassie, how about we go grab a steak or two?" Corbin suggested with Alex nodding strongly.

"Sure sounds great!" Thomas broadly smiled.

They supported each other on their walk towards Cassie and informed her on the matter. Thomas let Alex do the talking. He omitted the "repentance" incident prior to the demon battle taking place for good reasons.

Alex wished not to stir more trouble with the hierarchy inside the academy. The two scaredy cats would surely report back to their group and lay low for a while after this. Especially since the demon mentioned it was targeting gold crested students in particular.

Only Thomas and his group knew it was Peter Fenner who contracted and later succumbed to the demon. Cassie turned to Thomas briefly.

"How did you figure out it was Peter and that he was following Alex?"

Thomas carefully thought how to word his next sentence without revealing too much.

"I found Peter all beaten up and angry with blackened eyes, like he was possessed or something… I assumed he got beaten or bullied earlier today! And that is what probably made him contract the demon. To seek vengeance out of desperation on the gold crested students!" Thomas altered the truth slightly and explained to great detail.

Cassie carefully listened to deduct whether he was lying or not, but could not sense any dishonesty coming from Thomas.

"Afterwards I trailed him back to where I was supposed to meet up with Corbin and Alex, and saw Alex take off with Peter trailing him, so I warned Corbin and we decided to double down on the trailing," Thomas furthered his explanation.

Corbin nodded to confirm Thomas' story.

"And why did Alex leave?" Cassie turned around back to Alex.

"I found a strange note in my bag after lunch, somebody must have snuck it in. It told me to meet them alone in the North-Eastern Wing on the 8th floor," Alex lied.

Cassie shook her.

"You guys are clearly not telling me the full version… and that is fine… all that matters now is that we need to keep this a secret in order to not cause any panic, I will investigate more on the matter myself, okay?" Cassie put a hand each on Thomas' and Alex's shoulder.

Thomas and his gang all nodded and took their leave. Once they were outside the academy they went to Alex's favorite restaurant, "Enchanting Steaks", and ordered some premium steaks.

"Dig in all you want, we deserve that after beating that demon!" Alex yelled.

The restaurant had an orb system similar to the academy, with the exception being that waiters were allowed to walk through the bubble without breaking it.

Thomas excused himself after finishing his steak and headed to the restroom for some peace and quiet.

[Arcane System Awakening]

[User: Thomas Rosemary]

[Appearance: Dark Hair, Light Purple Eyes, 5'9]

[Race: Human]

[Ability: None]

[Level: 2]

[Experience: 10/200]

[Vitality: 10]

[Strength: 10]

[Agility: 10]

[Intelligence: 10]

[Stamina: 10]

Everything appeared in order. His stats have all gone up with five points each after Thomas had leveled up. The question was about evolution, his race still stated that he was human.

"I clearly felt pain at that time… do not know what that was all about!" Thomas loudly pondered.

The next section told Thomas he had both an attribute point and a skill point.

[Attribute Point Remaining: 1]

[Skill Point Remaining: 1]

Thomas put the attribute towards Agility, and made it eleven.

[Agility: 11]

Then he scrolled down to the next section.

[Passive Skill: Redo]

[Passive Skill: Lower Analysis]

[Uncover weaknesses, analyzing structures and being able to inspect]

The system managed to create a list of the things Thomas had used it for and put it beneath the skill as a description.

[You may unlock Arcane Foresight or level up your Lower Analysis skill]

A new message appeared with a new skill that Thomas could unlock if he so chooses to.

[Arcane Foresight: 0/1 Skill points required to unlock]

"Might as well give this new skill a go!" Thomas decided and put the skill point towards unlocking it.

[You have unlocked Arcane Foresight]

[Passive Skill: Arcane Foresight]

"Another passive skill? And no description!" Thomas complained, "When will I get a combat ability or skill?!" He fussed.

There was nothing left for Thomas to check, so he exited the restroom and returned back to their table.

"Ready to leave?" Corbin asked and Thomas nodded.

Alex flipped the waiter an entire gold coin and overpaid with a generous tip. In this world the currency was of bronze, silver and gold coins, and a hundred of them totalled towards the next one. The coins themselves were not of their own substances per se, they were more enchanted ones that made them appear as such and weighed about a nickel each.

Back at the dormitory all of them jumped right into bed after an exhausting day. For Thomas this felt the first time he slept in days, considering he was up and repeating the same one a few times.

It did not require much effort this time around for him to fall asleep shortly after they had said goodnight to each other. The only thoughts that remained for Thomas was of what challenges lied on ahead.

Would there be more contracted demons like Peter? Would the hierarchy strike again? And what does his new skill Arcane Foresight entail? All of these questions were things Thomas pondered while slowly shutting his eyes.

And for the first time in a long time, Thomas fully relaxed and caught a perfect night's rest.