Level Up

Silas picked up his glasses, put them on, and briskly walked in the direction of the assessment chamber, which he had seen on the way in.

Lyra stepped out from the wall she was hiding behind. She had so many questions running through her head. Why did he touch all the other students after he beat them up? And why did he put stuff into that girl's robes? He didn't look like he had taken anything from her. Just put things in her pockets.

She had to learn more about this guy. But right now she needed to get to the assessment chamber. She would just follow him at a distance. Maybe try to get into his assessment group.

As he was walking towards the assessment chamber, Silas remembered he had points to assign. 20 affinity points and 5 ability points. First, he put the 5 ability points into his luck.

[Luck: 15]

If this was anything like a game, the beginning would be the easiest part, the part where he would least need to put points into his physical stats.

So right now was the perfect time to boost his luck while he still could. Before he absolutely had to start getting stronger.

If he was lucky, he could get it to some ridiculous number like 50. A 50% chance to critically hit would be amazing.

The system also said he had 20 affinity points. Not sure what that meant, he pulled up the system menu. Seeing nothing new on the stats screen, he navigated to the skill tree menu.

The skill tree menu had changed some since he last saw it. Instead of just the three skill trees, Neuromancy, Biomancy, and Essomancy, they were now three new skill trees, making a total of six.

The new skill trees were named Hemomancy, Chloromancy, and Fraxomancy. Underneath each skill tree was one spell. The spells were labeled differently than the skills from his first three trees.

[Hemomancy: Blood Whip (Tier 10 spell)(Cost: 5 mana)]

[Chloromancy: Thorn Knife (Tier 10 spell)(Cost: 5 mana)]

[Fraxomancy: Barrier of Silence (Tier 9 spell)(Cost: 10 mana)]

Interesting. This implied that his level 1 Neuromancy, Biomancy, and Essomancy 'skills' could be leveled up, but the spells could not. He would have to keep that in mind.

He liked how the system even displayed the mana cost of the spells. That was useful.

The words [Affinity Points: 20] hovered over the Neuromancy, Biomancy, and Essomancy skill trees. He supposed that meant he could only spend the points in those trees.

Thinking hard, he decided to open up the Neuromancy tree. Based on how the Learn skill worked, it seemed like Neuromancy would help him get stronger the fastest magically.

He would worry about Biomancy and Essomancy when he didn't feel like he was on such an urgent time table to increase his magical knowledge. Right now, he was way behind the curve.

The other students had years of foundational knowledge from their earlier education to draw on, while he basically had nothing, due to his lifetime spent without a mana core.

The Neuromancy skill tree had new skills available for 'purchase.' The skills that weren't greyed out to the point of being unable to see them, were [Speed Reading (cost: 10 affinity points)], [Sound Isolation (cost: 10 affinity points)], and [Photographic Memory (cost: 20 affinity points)].

While Photographic Memory sounded really useful, what Silas really wanted was Speed Reading. He could pair it with his Learn skill to pick up spells really quickly from books in the Grand Athenaeum.

So he bought the Speed Reading skill and the Sound Isolation skill with his affinity points and closed the system menu.

For once in his life, a fight had gone Silas's way. It wasn't a one sided beat down that left him lying on the ground, bruised and bleeding. He had actually gotten back at the bullies this time. He was liking this system more and more.

He might actually be able to enact some change in the school. Install a new world order where students didn't have to deal with the 2 percent elites walking all over them.

He was getting ahead of himself. First he had to figure out how to survive. Then he could see about doing good for others.

"Looks like those martial arts lessons paid off." Evelyn said, smugly.

"Yeah they did." Silas said, proudly.

"What do you say?"

"…Thank you mom."

"You're welcome, Silas."

Silas got to the Arcane Aptitude Assessment chamber with minutes to spare. He spent the extra time looking around the room, watching students file in through the doors. Some looked nervous, others excited, but all seemed to share a sense of anticipation for what was to come.

A few minutes later, Alastair, Cyrus, and Vivian entered the chamber, looking a little worse for wear from the earlier scuffle with Silas and the mana draining. Silas was relieved to see they at least seemed healthy.

He didn't know what the mana draining was going to do to them and he was happy to see it only seemed to cause a little exhaustion. They glared at him, their eyes burning with anger, but they said nothing.

A teacher, dressed in military attire, strode into the chamber, his presence commanding immediate attention. He had a sword at his side, held in an intricately decorated sheath.

He began separating the students into groups. Silas didn't notice as Lyra slid in near him, hoping to get into his group.

Alongside Silas and Lyra were a few other students. One was a boy with messy brown hair, average height, and a perpetual smile on his face. A short girl with dark skin and tightly coiled curls stood near him. Barely within the vicinity of the rest of them was a broad shouldered guy with long black hair parted down the middle, who seemed to have perfected the art of frowning without directly making eye contact with anyone.

The teacher grouped them all together. The teacher would take groups into the other room one at a time and then come out alone.

As Silas took in his new groupmates, Lyra tried to catch his attention, her eyes alight with curiosity. Before she could do anything, the boy with the brown hair stepped in front of her, a wide grin plastered on his face.

"Hiya, the name's Jace. Looks like we're going to be party members for this adventure. I recognize you, Blackwood and I think we're going to get along swimmingly."

"Oh really? Well, it's nice to meet a fan, I guess. You didn't see me on a wanted poster or something, did you?…But seriously, what have you heard?" Silas asked.

"I heard they called you the No Hit Wonder." Jace said, smiling like that was some great accomplishment.

Silas looked down and put his hand up to his face. "You heard about that?"

"Yeah they said you never hit a target once." Jace, still smiling broadly.

"Yep. That definitely happened." Silas mumbled through his hand.

"You must be some sort of secret genius or something." Jace's smile was starting to make more sense. "Who can miss a target every time for 4 years, unless they were doing it on purpose? You must be special or something."

Jace had no idea how right and wrong he was at the same time.

"Oh I'm special all right." Silas said, still covering his face.

"I knew it!" Jace exclaimed, doing a fist pump.

Before Silas could respond, the teacher called out, his voice booming across the chamber. "Group three, you're up next. Follow me into the assessment room."

Together, they followed the teacher into the adjoining room, ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead.

As Silas stepped into the assessment room, he took in the array of testing equipment that filled the space. In the front of the room stood a raised dais, upon which rested an alter of polished stone. Beyond that was an obstacle course, a target area, and something that looked like a punching bag.

As the rest of the students milled into the room, they started introducing themselves to each other. The petite girl with the calculating eyes was named Nadia, while the brooding young man introduced himself as Rowan.

Lyra approached Silas. "I'm Lyra," she said. "Lyra Voidwalker. It's a pleasure to meet you, Silas. I haven't heard anything about you, but you have an energy about you." Silas noticed the intensity of her gaze, like she was searching for something in his face.

Jace seemed eager to begin, doing active stretches as he waited for the teacher's to give them instructions. Nadia and Rowan, on the other hand, looked more reserved, their expressions guarded as they studied the room.

The teacher, a tall, imposing figure with a stern expression, stepped forward, his gaze sweeping over the group. "I am Professor Elric Vance. This assessment is designed to test your arcane aptitude, as well as your physical and mental abilities. You will be evaluated on your performance, and your results will determine your placement within the university's hierarchy."

He gestured towards the altar. "Approach the altar and place your hand on the stone. It will measure your innate magical potential, current tier, and affinities."

Silas felt a hint of unease as he stared at the altar. What if the altar revealed his need to drain mana from others or his part leviathan status? Before he could think further on this, the professor's voice rang out again.

"Silas Blackwood, you're up first." Vance said.

Silas knew it was now or never. He crossed his fingers and hoped his luck would save him from being exposed as half monster. He stepped forward and placed his hand on the cold, hard stone.

[System Message: Physical contact established. Initiating drain.]

The altar emitted a blinding flash of light, engulfing Silas. Pain ripped through his body and everything went black.