17 How Do I Level Up, Exactly?

A few minutes later, Ms. Itsuwa had used her telekinetic-type spell to place all the stacked desks and chairs back to their original places. Since no one had their dorms yet, aside from Nakayama and the other three girls, everyone's suitcases had all been pushed to one side of the room to the boy's surprise. If he was being honest, he didn't really pay much attention to those suitcases, so it was simply in his favor that Ms. Itsuwa had moved them before the dorm game albeit against his knowledge. They probably would have heavily interfered with the results of the game anyway, as dodging them probably would've made for a challenge.

That little chair stunt he pulled probably wouldn't have been nearly as successful either.

The students all took their suitcases and sat back down at their desks, a good number of them huffing and puffing over their missed opportunity. Ms. Itsuwa said something like, "Now, don't be upset class. Each of the five dorms are right next to one another, so you'll still be relatively close to Mr. Nakayama."

Maybe that wasn't exactly what she said, but it was close enough. Regardless, she assigned the rest of the 20 students their dorm and did away with the papers in the manilla envelope.

"Okay~!" Itsuwa said cheerfully but at a respectable volume, unlike a certain pink-haired girl Nakayama knew. "There's one last thing we need to go over before I'll have you all travel to your dorms before lunch!"

"Oh, that's right." the mismatched boy said to himself. He dug around in his pocket and fished out the slip of paper Lea had given him a while back. On it, he searched for something that would be reminiscent of 'lunch.'

Eventually, he found a bullet point where she had written: Lunchtime: 11:30 A.M. As of right now, it looked to be around an hour and a half until time for lunch, so he figured it was best if he started planning his next move. At lunch, he'd go to Ms. Akayoru's office and ask for an explanation and try to get everything situated. It somewhat scared him because he knew not the outcome of that future conversation. Would he unenroll? Perhaps she genuinely made the mistake of bringing him to the wrong school? Whatever the case, it would all make sense eventually. It was only a matter of time.

Ms. Itsuwa clasped her hands somewhere near her crotch or waist area and kept her lips turned upwards while looking at the class. "For our next course of action, we need to go over just how leveling up works in the first place and how we as users of mana go about doing so," she said as she walked over to the board once more, waving her hand horizontally.

"Since this happens to be class F, I'm sure there are several level 1s in here that don't know much, if anything, about leveling up or how the system works. Therefore, allow me to explain."

For whatever reason, Nakayama felt like this lesson was specifically targeted towards him even though that was far from the truth.

"The Edgar Brauss System is a system in which magic fighters are ranked based on their legal level of strength. That is, essentially, all it is. However, there is somewhat of a sub-system within the Edgar Brauss System, which is often called the 'Level-Up System', that deals with one's level and mana identification. As you might know, mana is essentially an extension of our own spirits, so just as each of us are biologically different, so are our magic energies. We cannot actually level up ourselves, so we end up using what we call 'Level-Up Stations' invented by Edgar Brauss himself. Human beings are bound by our own mana's spiritual chains. However, by using the Level-Up System and the Level-Up Stations, one is able to continuously able to break that chain which we are bound by. Once little shards from said spiritual chains are broken off, those 'shards' are automatically converted into what we call 'attribute points' which we use to effectively power ourselves up through the 6 different stats." she said quite informatively.

Unfortunately, Nakayama still couldn't completely wrap his head around it, but he stayed quiet and awaited extra details.

"Please allow me to elaborate."

"Ah, here it is." Nakayama thought.

"As an example, I'll use myself. I have a place within the Edgar Brauss System that holds all of my data. But, more importantly, it holds my level. Everyone, please open your magic menus in front of yourself so I have a better time explaining, please."

At that moment, every person in the classroom managed to open their magic menus. Even the level 1s, though he didn't exactly know which ones were, in fact, level 1s. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that they lived in this magic city? Perhaps it was quite regular for them to do so as apposed to Moku City. Many of them were different colors like orange, blue, pink, and purple. Nakayama's was clear.

That was because he failed to open it. He tried to swipe his hand horizontally as he'd done at the warp station, but nothing was happening and he became a little frustrated. And, as if she could see everything, Itsuwa called his name.

"Mr. Nakayama, I see you're having some trouble there. Are you sure you're using the proper technique to open your menu?"

"Eh!?" he grunted. "I-uhm. I thought you just had to swipe your hand like this..!" he said, moving his hand from left to right. Ms. Itsuwa giggled and shook her head "no."

"Hm-hm-hm~! That's not quite right, Mr. Nakayama." she said with a smile. "What you have to do is channel a small bit of mana in your hand and then spread it out over the course of around 6 inches horizontally or so. Something to that extent."

"Ugh, yeah, that would make sense." he thought to himself. It would be ridiculous if all you had to do to open a magic menu was swipe your hand in a single direction randomly. The only reason he was able to do that at the warp station was because that was how it was designed. The warp station's map had nothing to do with his own mana, it was using the mana from something completely separate from his own being and he was simply gaining access to it. He felt silly, but it wasn't an unusual feeling at this point. He'd never actually opened his magic menu before, him being a level 1 and never needing to and all, but he knew how to use mana to an extent. Channeling it in his hand and spreading it out came naturally. It was almost like spreading dough with a rolling pin.

Fwoosh. He slid his hand from right to left and a glowing blue menu appeared before his eyes.

"That's very good!" Ms. Itsuwa praised from the front of the classroom. "Now, moving on. In your magic menu, there will be several things about you including your name, your level, your height, and other things. You could also think of your magic menu as an extension of your very spirit, as that is essentially where the heart of both magic and mana lie anyway."

She was right. Before him, on his blue menu, was his name at the top, some random information about his personality, his height, age, and even some kind of magic button that said 'intake log.' That probably had something to do with what he'd eaten recently or something. Though, the most noticeable thing rested in the very middle.

Right there, were the gigantic letters that read: Level 1

Right under that was a long meter-gauge of some sort that read: 40/150 EXP

He vaguely understood what it all meant before Itsuwa began explaining, but he turned his eyes away from his menu and paid attention to her. It was quite unfortunate that his parents didn't tell him about even the simplest of things such as this, but perhaps they thought the school system could do a much better job of it. He couldn't wrap his head around it completely, but there was nothing he could really do about it.

"On your screen, you should see your level and your experience in the middle, correct?" she asked.

Everyone nodded "yes."

"Good. Now, allow me to explain myself. Since I am in the Edgar Brauss System, all of my data belongs within the databanks. The Level-Up Stations are obviously connected to the system, so when the experience bar below my level becomes full, I will be able to use the stations to officially level up and it will be automatically recorded into the system, understand? The same goes for all of you, though I'm sure those of you that are above level 1 already knew that to some extent. You'll know it's time to use a Level-Up Station when your experience bar begins to glow, or you can simply look at the numbers next to it. I believe, for level 1s, it might say 150/150.."

It felt like she was explaining everything very well, but it was as if she was getting nowhere at the same time. Nakayama felt that if he didn't raise his hand, it would be detrimental to his understanding of how to obtain greatness as a magic fighter. Therefore, he did so and Ms. Itsuwa called on him.

"Yes, Mr. Nakayama?" she inquired as sweet as sugar.

"Uhm, I'm sorry. You're doing your best to explain and all, but for some reason, it's kind of hard to understand just how all this leveling up stuff works. Is there any other way you could teach it, maybe?"

"Hm-hm-hm~! Yes, well, it's a difficult concept to explain using words exclusively. So, perhaps I'll keep it simple." She held up a finger. "Essentially, once your experience meter becomes full, you need to use the Level Up Station and, well, level up. You are granted 6 attribute points and the option of placing them in the 6 different stats each time you gain a level. That's all you really need to know."

He looked up as if to ponder the information he'd just been fed.

"Well, I suppose I don't really need to know all the logistics behind it." he thought to himself. "I guess it would be like questioning why a math formula works."

He nodded to Ms. Itsuwa one that said, "Okay, I think I understand" and she proceeded to smile back at him.

"Okay, class. We'll wrap up our lecture here and we'll pick back up after lunch," she announced. "I'll let you all go to your dormitories and get situated there, then you are free to stay in there until lunch. Or, you may return to the classroom and have a free period until it's time for you to eat."

Just like that, his first day at school was almost halfway complete. They'd killed almost an hour and a half with their previous activities and lecturings but there was definitely still more content to go over about what the magic world could offer him.

And, as everyone began to stand up and stretch, it was about that time to go back to his dorm and legally claim his throne. Well, usually kings wouldn't have XL twin-sized beds as thrones, but it was close enough, he supposed.