1-Star Magic User

After returning to his room, Akhil continued to practice how to absorb more magic power. He saw that the black ball he created continually got larger as he did. As he practiced, he thought that if he used the same procedure for his other elements, maybe it would work and it did soon. Three more days passed, and Akhil had four more balls circling his abdomen. The most difficult one was the space element because he didn't know what to visualize. But after a while, he imagined a space with stars, and suddenly a ball was formed. Unlike his other orbs that had a specific color, he found that the space element, as it enlarged, had increased in stars each time as if another space was forming.

When it seemed like he was stuck and couldn't absorb any more, he thought maybe it was his body's way of telling him he had reached his bodily limit. He grabbed the book and began where he left off, which continued to tell him that when he felt stuck, he should continue to the next page, which had the title "Body Tempering."

The book continued to state that body tempering is like creating a vessel that can contain magic power. It stated that as a person's magic power continues to increase, their body's strength will also need to improve. It again stated that the body's strength will continue to increase as long as the person is not dead, ill, or severely injured. The book went on to explain the procedure of body tempering, stating that the magic user had to push his physical body to the limit while accumulating magic in his bones, muscles, and then skin.

After reading, Akhil called for Judith and asked if there was a training room in the castle. She informed him that there was, but it required permission. All he had to do was speak to the king, and permission would be granted for him to use it, and he would also be given a trainer for better results.

After speaking to King Narc, Akhil got permission to use the training room and got a personal trainer named Evadine, but was told to call her Coach Eva. On the very first day, Coach Eva did some tests to see what he was working with. First, it was to see how much he could lift, which was around 50kg. His speed was alright but needed improvement, his stamina was below average, and his body fat was at twenty percent, which was okay but needed to be lower.

After taking the test, Akhil got instructions from Coach Eva that every day he should complete 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 pull-ups, and 100 squats. Additionally, at the end of each week for a month, he should complete a 10k run. Hearing all this, Akhil felt dizzy, as he had never done much physical work other than walking around a newly bought land. He wondered if his business was still there.

Unknown to Akhil, what happened on Earth had caused significant changes. Luckily, he had a well-trained secretary who survived the incident and took control of the company. She bought lands which sold at higher prices, causing Akhil's bank account to have eleven zeros. The incident made Akhil one of the youngest billionaires in the world. All this was currently unknown to him.

After going through a month of training, Akhil noticed the differences between him now and a month ago, which was a complete change. He was toned and could run a 10k without burning out. Coach Eva was happy with his progress. The two got to know each other during that time, and to say she was harsh on Akhil was an understatement, but it benefited him in the long run.

Laying on the floor exhausted from the day's training, when suddenly after opening his eyes, King Narc was there standing directly over him. "Being so ill-informed, you are dedicated to your training, if I must admit," said King Narc. "Well, what can I say? I am extremely motivated," replied Akhil as he remembered the warning vividly. "Get up! Let's go to your room but bath first. We'll meet in ten minutes," said King Narc, walking away.

After freshening up, Akhil called Judith to inform the king he was finished. Five minutes later, a knock was heard on the door, and when opened, it was King Narc. Walking into the room, King Narc began talking, "Body tempering is a very important part of becoming a full-fledged magic user, but it is dangerous and must be done correctly. Although the book gives instructions, you should still have someone supervise. Now sit down and take your shirt off," the order made Akhil look at King Narc awkwardly. "I know I look great, but I'm not that type of guy," said Akhil in a flirting tone.

The sudden urge to slap Akhil came across King Narc's mind, but he calmed down and used his pressure to have Akhil sit down and instructed him again to remove his shirt. The sudden change in the atmosphere caused Akhil to do as he was told without question.

"As the magic book states, when body tempering, use your attribute magic to merge with your body."

"Most individuals have one attribute, but you have five, so what you should do is discover a way to merge them. You should have an equal balance in all elements. One should not overpower another," said King Narc.

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Akhil began imagining taking in a portion of the dark magic, then a portion of wind magic, then some fire magic, then the space magic, and finally water magic. Akhil used space magic to separate the fire and water magic because they are opposites, and he read too many fantasy books to know what would happen. He continued until he was satisfied with the amount.

Opening his eyes, he looked at King Narc to make it obvious that he had completed it. "Next is to pour the merged attributes into the body parts. First is the bone, second is the organs except for the heart, third is the muscles, and then the skin, and lastly is the heart. The heart is the most dangerous part of this."

"There is a limit to the amount the heart can take, which differs from the rest of the body. At each bottleneck where you fill your body with magic, the heart will need more. Also, this is how we would rank ourselves. The first body tempering proves that you are moving from a no-star to a 1-star magic user." Explained King Narc. "Now begin and be careful!"

Closing his eyes, Akhil began to imagine the merged attributes seeping into his bones. At first, the feeling was smooth like water flowing down your throat, but the burning sensation began to rise. This was due to the fire element purifying the bones, and then he could hear bones breaking and resetting, which caused Akhil to scream out. "Don't stop! Continue!" instructed King Narc as he watched Akhil lie flat on the ground in pain.

The screams got worse as the elements began to merge with his bones. Each element, when merged with the body, could give a different effect. If he desired, he could use the dark element to become fog-like or fire to become completely covered in fire and even have a water body. This level of mastery was beyond Akhil for now, but when he found out, he was impressed all the same. After the screams died down and his body temperature no longer rose, Akhil felt as if his bones had increased in weight and strength until he could only sit.

"Seems like that went well, next is your organs, but after completing your organs go straight to the muscles, don't stop for any reason. If something does happen, I will guide you, and remember, don't go near your heart for now."

Starting again, Akhil began to imagine strands from the merged elements connecting to each of his organs and pouring the elements. The same thing happened as when he did it to his bones, but the pain was more intense. All his organs melted and regenerated at an unbearable pace. He went unconscious three times, but King Narc managed to wake him each time. By the time his brain had regenerated, he realized that his senses had been heightened. He could sense things he couldn't have, like the strength of King Narc. It was clear that he was unable to sense it completely, but it was there.

He went directly to his muscles after the final organ regenerated. His muscles accepted the elements differently. It was as if the muscles sucked in the merged elements and expanded and then condensed. His body seemed to have gotten tougher and stronger from just that. The pain became bearable because his nerves had got stronger and recognized the pain as mild and not extreme.

Waking up, Akhil saw blood and black go all around. His face grimaced, and, realizing it was on him, he almost threw up, not to mention the unbearable stench. Akhil was slowly getting used to his body when the door opened and three maids walked in with masks and cleaning supplies. When they saw him, they quickly bowed and apologized and told him that King Narc was waiting for him in the training room.

After having a bath, Akhil tried to sense the magic in the atmosphere when he focused on the mages, realizing that all three of them were 2-star magic users. Which was not surprising, being that they were in another place that knew magic existed.

Walking to the training room, Akhil saw King Narc practicing his sword skills in the center. It was fascinating to Akhil because he had never actually seen swords being used in any way. "Come towards me," said King Narc as he finished the set of sword skills. "Sit down! The heart, as I said, helps to signify what tier you are on after body tempering, but it is different from how you would temper your body. The difference is that you are going to use pure magic to strengthen your heart and push past the bottleneck." Stated King Narc.

"Take this," throws something. "What is it?" asked Akhil, "That is a magic beast crystal, the magic in it is pure and doesn't have an attribute. You can absorb the magic from it the same way you would take from the surrounding air, but you have to hold on to it and guide the magic towards your heart and ensure that the magic you are pulling is constant and not rigid. Begin when you're ready," said King Narc.

Holding the crystal in his hands, Akhil began to absorb the magic power within the crystal. For one hour, he sat there absorbing. He continued until the bright white light from the crystal died out, leaving a dull grey color. A few minutes later, his face started showing signs of pain. When King Narc saw this, he knew he had reached the bottleneck.

In Akhil's mind, he seems to have hit a very hard wall, and the need to break it down was urging him to. The thought of using a sledgehammer came to Akhil's mind, and suddenly one started to form. He used it to hit the wall, but it barely did anything. He then thought of covering the hammer in magic. Especially the magic from the merged elements. When he did this, it seemed like the hammer got stronger.

On the first hit with the magic-enhanced sledgehammer, a crack appeared on the wall about a meter long. He saw this and continued. After about 10 hits, a small gap could be seen. For his last hit, Akhil powered all his strength into the swing directly on the spot with the gap, and right after he hit the place, he started shaking, and the wall began tumbling down. With this, a fresh breeze blew past his face. The feeling of his power increasing felt great.

Opening his eyes, Akhil's senses felt something around his heart. When he looked, he saw a bright star circling it. "You are now a 1-star Magic User, congratulations. But to ensure that your power is stable, go into your room and refill your elemental orbs."

After refilling his orbs, Akhil fell asleep for about 3 hours, got up to eat, and went straight to practicing magic. Sitting in a crossed-legged yoga meditating position, Akhil's use of magic was improving rapidly after reaching 1-star. The book read that it will now be possible to manifest the elements outside the body because each part of your body is connected to the elemental orbs. The book then went straight into dark magic.

To practice dark magic, he must first visualize his dark magic to give a particular physical nature. Thinking, he came up with the idea of one that could harden and soften, for defending and attacking but also to travel with. Then according to the book, he should imagine the black particles from the ball he created forming in his hands and form it according to his imagination. Seeing that it was formed, he could soften and harden as he wanted.

For more than four weeks, he repeated the hardening and softening until he knew how to do it unconsciously. Feeling satisfied, he went to the training and asked a maid to inform the King that he is needed. Appearing behind him, King Narc looked at him and said, "What do you want now?" "Nothing, I formed my dark magic," with a wave of his hand, the dark matter appeared to hover in the middle of his hand, softening and hardening repeatedly, forming various shapes and floating around, "Acceptable, but you'll need to be able to fight with it," said King Narc.

Stretching out his hand, King Narc opened a portal, and a man-shaped stone came out. "Use that for practice, call me after you slice it in half."