Chapter 1

Eli slowly opens his eyes, yawning, only to see a black screen.

[Well, you're finally up. Welcome, to the Idle Experience system. Every step you take, every time your heart beats, every time you produce a thought, you will gain +1 EXP. You will become the strongest in the world, whether you like it or not.]

'What the fuck!?'

He tries to poke the screen, and his finger passes right through it.

[I am the system. For your convenience, I have turned off EXP notifications. Say 'Stats' to see your current level, stat points, etc. Say 'Spells' or 'Skills' to bring up a page with your affinities, spells, and skills. Sadly, leveling up doesn't increase stats on its own, you have to assign stat points. However! You get 2 stat points a level. Every ten level ups, I will give you a random skill or spell. So, don't hold back. Go for runs, play some sports, do anything that will make you breath harder, your heart beat faster, take more steps, just perform more actions. Taming beasts will help, as every beat of their heart and wag of their tails will still give you EXP.]

'Is a mage using a spell on me?'

[What mage?! I am your system.]

'I've got nothing to lose. Stats.'

Another black screen pops into existence.

[Eli Cane]

[Level: 27]

[Exp: 1540/2700]

[Health: 100/100]

[Mana: 100/100]

[VIT: 10]

[ATK: 10]

[DEF: 10]

[AGI: 10]

[INT: 10]

[EXP MULT: 1.0]

[Stat Points: 54]

[Tamed Beasts: ---]

'Oh it worked. Wait, why level 27!?'

[I came active about four hours ago. Since then, you have breathed many times, produced a lot of thoughts, and had your heart beating, gaining you that much EXP.]

'Four hours!?'

[Yes.]

'Umm, I guess I should assign the stat points, shouldn't I?'

He clicks on the 'EXP MULT' and it raises to '1.1'.

'Well, lets make this an even two.'

He clicks on it nine more times, taking it up to '2.0', and taking his stat points down to 44.

He decides to put 10 points into attack, 10 points into vitality, 10 points into intelligence, 5 points in agility, and 5 points in defense, leaving him with four points. As soon as he finishes, he feels his body get stronger. He felt lighter, his arms were tighter, he was thinking faster, and his heart rate slowed slightly.

[Successful increase.]

He jumps around a bit, noticing the increase in his strength.

'Alright. That worked, and it said it would give me skills right? Skills!'

[Affinities: {Lightning} {Dark} {Fire} ]

[Lightning: {Lightning Arc Blade}]

[Dark: ---]

[Fire: {Fireball}]

--------------------

[Active Skills: ---]

[Passive Skills: ---]

'Lightning arc blade? I have heard of fireball, but that's new.'

Eli's family was somewhat well off, so they had two magical testing devices. One for warriors, and the other for mages. For the warrior, they had a marble pillar, that when punched would give a number displaying strength. The average for a non-trained warrior is ten.

For mages, there was a straw dummy that could withstand an attack from twenty grand-mages. When a spell/skill was used on it, it would also generate a number, displaying the strength of the spell, and the mana force of the mage. (For reference, a grand-mage has an average mana force of 5k)

As the system gives him spells for leveling up enough, it obviously wants him to be a mage, or a battle mage. There are other magic classes, such as druid or healer, but none of his affinities work for them. A battle mage cultivates their body, and trains as a mage, becoming a kind of hybrid of both classes. the only problem with becoming a battle mage, lies in becoming a mage. For someone to be a mage, they need to have a mana core formed in their body, deciding what affinities they have. 1 in 70,000 people can manage to form one, and it cannot be induced artificially.

But there were no requirements to becoming a warrior, except sheer willpower, which is why you will rarely ever see mages, or battle mages. When they do appear, they will not be royalty, as you would've expected, but will be equivalent to city lords or mayors. Meaning, they would have the power to change a city or waver a small kingdom.

He leaves his room, to see his family eating breakfast.

"Happy birthday kiddo!" A middle age man says while stuffing his mouth full with pancakes. This man was Eli's father, a warrior with a strength value of 412.

Might you remember, an untrained warrior has an average strength of 10. Sometimes a little more or less, but never more than two off. This man was almost 42 times as strong as an untrained warrior.

"Yeah, happy birthday honey." A gentle and loving voice sounds. Meet a fire mage with a mana force that can reach 400 points of strength. Mages work the same way warriors do in terms of strength points, and a new mage has an average mana force of 10 as well. So she is 40 times as strong as when she started.

"Hello mom, dad." Eli walks to the cupboards, grabs a bowl, and makes a quick bowl of cereal. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Well, we thought that sense it was your birthday, we'd let you sleep a bit." His mother says.

"And with you being 17, we need to take you in to test." His father adds on.

In this world, if you would get a core, they formed at 17. With his mother being a mage, he had a high chance of forming a core.

Eli already knew he had a core, but he still responded with a "Okay, when will we go?"

"We have an appointment in three hours."

"Alright then."

===========

They all enter the building, greeted by a desk.

"Name." The guy at the desk says, not even looking up.

"Jane Cose, Adam Cose, and Eli Cose."

He looks up, sighs slightly, and directs them to a room.

As they enter, they see a massive, floating, blue crystal, and another person, a girl.

The girl tells them to stand to the side, and Eli to come to the crystal.

"Put your hand on the crystal. If you have a core, it will glow. Depending on what affinity your core is, it will glow a specific color."

Eli puts his right palm on the crystal, and it quickly glows bright orange, turning light blue, and finally fading black.

The tester lady gasps in shock, and manages to stutter out,

"You have three affinities?!"

In this world, one affinity for mages was expected, two was unlikely, and three was extremely rare. Every mage with two affinities will be stronger that mages with the same mana force, because of diversity in the elements. So can you imagine how strong someone with three affinities would be?

And Eli got extremely lucky with his elements.

Fire prioritizes powerful strikes, to defeat enemies quickly.

Lightning prioritizes quick, but still somewhat strong attacks, to wear enemies down over time.

Dark prioritizes debuffing enemies, with what some would call evil means. Crushing bones, boiling blood, cursing, anything goes, making it harder for them to attack.

So no matter what situation, whether they are strong, quick, or both, he'll have a spell for it.

Eli's parents are just as shocked as the tester. Not because of the three elements thing, but how quickly the elements glowed.

When his mother did the test, it slowly faded orange, reminiscent of her mana force being 10. The elements glowed about twice as fast, indicating he had twice as much mana force.

"Hey tester. Do you have any low ranked spells?" His mother asks.

"Y-Yeah I have the rank one lightning spell spark, why?"

"Could you give it to Eli? We need to measure his mana force." His mother asks again. I say asks, but at this point she is telling the tester what to do.

"I don't know, it cost me a lot." She seemed unwilling.

"He has three affinities, so he is going to be strong. Do you want to lose out on the opportunity to say you taught the strongest mage his first spell?" Persuades his mother.

That seemed to do it, because she pulls out a small, light blue book, and hands it to Eli.

"Because you have a core, learning a spell will be easy. Just feel the mana in the book and direct it into your core."

Eli holds the book, and indeed, he felt energy in it. He directs that energy to where the core is, right next to the heart.

He feels the mana fill the core, and a small, black screen pops up.

[Spell learned: Spark]

Because this was a room to see if you were a mage, there was a testing device.

He walks towards the dummy, outstretches his hand, and asks the system a question.

'Hey system. Is this like the novels I've read, where I can instant cast magic, or no?'

[Lazy bit- Yeah. If you will it, you can.]

He nods slightly, and draws a circle in the air, made of lightning. He then fills it with mana, and says the spell in his mind. The circle shines brightly, before forming into a small ball of lightning, and shooting at the dummy.

[WHY DID YOU ASK IF YOU WEREN'T GOING TO USE IT?!]

'Just wondering. Also how would I explain to the people around me. I would be a guinea pig.'

Everyone gasps in shock, and Eli looks at the number.

It was a 20.