World ranking

Edward walked through the passage, entering the second room. After turning into a corner, he was sucked into a black tunnel, emerging from a tree back at the surface. This time, he was prepared and landed on his feet.

Opening his arm wide, Edward took in a deep breath before exhaling. He did this multiple times, enjoying the fresh air before sighing. He then went under the tree's shadow and sat on the ground.

Edward then opened his status only to notice he now had 39 AP. He had forgotten to input the 16 he had before battling the boss. "Fuck. Maybe things would have gone differently if I had allocated those 16 AP." He cursed, dropping his spear by his side and rubbing his temple.

Deciding to deal with his AP later, Edward went to his mail to claim the four last ones.

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Option 1 - Enhanced Speed: For a short period of time, increase the Speed Attribute by 10%

Option 2 - Single Concentration: For a short period of time, increase concentration by 10%(Cost: 1 SP)

Option 3 - Polearm Apprentice (Level 2+)->Polearm Apprentice (Level 5+)(Cost: 2 SP)

Option 4- Blink: Using mana, teleport to a location of the user's choice, 5 meters around them. Can't teleport to where the eyes can't see. (Cost: 4 SP)

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Without a second choice, Edward picked option 4. Option 1 and 2 were a repeat of the skills he got at level 5, and they were useless compared to 3 and 4. Option 3 was the second-best because it increased Polearm Apprentice level by three while only using 2SP, but Blink was so much better.

After picking the skill, Edward wanted to immediately test it out. Focusing ahead of him, he shouted, "Blink!"

The world twisted around him, causing him to become nauseous before he appeared five meters in front of him. Edward immediately dropped to his hands and knee, vomiting from last night's dinner.

"Oh, fuck. This will take some getting used to." He groaned, cleaning his mouth with the back of his hand. Walking to the tree, he rubbed his vomit hand on the tree before sitting back in his spot. "And I feel like I used half my mana for that." There wasn't any point for mana like when he had Arcane, but he could feel how much mana he used. "I guess I can only use it two times, but now the problem is on how to regenerate mana. I hope the book teaches me that."

He then opened the next one, his abilities choice appearing,

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Option 1 - Master learner: Learn things 2x faster(Cost: 1 TP)

Option 2 - All Human Language: Learn all human languages, lost or still existing(Cost: 1 TP and 1 SP)

Option 3 - Magical Language: Learn all Language and letters related to magic 4x faster(Cost: 1 TP and 3 SP)

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"Well, damn," Edward remarked, staring wide-eyed at the options. They were all great, especially option 2, which gives you knowledge of all human languages. It was tempting, but the most expensive is always the best. Besides, he is starting to learn magic, so option 3 is the best.

Edward felt nothing changed in him after choosing the ability but knew it did. Going to the last message about unlocked Level Ranking, a message popped up,

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[Level World Ranking]

Rank 1: Kasel Lord (Level 12)

Rank 2: Xue Ying (Level 10)

Rank 3: Mary Alexandrina (Level 10)

Rank 4: Akihiro Shima (Level 10)

Rank 5: Xue Baozhai (Level 10)

Rank 6: Abasi Mohammed (Level 10)

Rank 7: Joo-Heon (Level 10)

Rank 8: Philip Smith (Level 10)

Rank 9: Vidya Khatri (Level 10)

Rank 10: Edward Smith (Level 10)

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"What!" Edward cried out, his posture stiffening. "How the fuck is this guy a level 12!?" His mind was in shambles, trying to understand what he was looking at. He struggled to get to level 10 and almost DIED! And this guy is level 12?

Edward held his head, his eyes still on the screen. "Bro, how? How!?" he mumbled, trying to think of any possible way he would have gotten to level 12. No one else is even a level 11, and this guy is a level 12!? To enter level 11, you needed 21k Exp, so this guy must have gotten more than 40k EXP. "Is he hacking?"

It was a stupid question, but Edward couldn't help but ask. It's like looking at the ranking of an RPG game that opened just yesterday, and the whale is already at a 1 million power level. It was frustrating and annoying.

Edward wanted to immediately go out hunting but calmed himself down. "First, learn some magic. With an AOE magic, I can whip out a whole herd of zebras. I will definitely hunt better with magic." He breathed, smiling. "Yes. Just take it slow. This guy might kill himself from a boss monster or something."

Scanning the rest of the ranking, Edward's eyes stopped on one name. Philip Smith. "Is that father?" He asked himself, surprised. "No, maybe it is someone else with the same last name as me. Smith is a popular name, and there are billions of people in this world." He sighed, removing the ranking screen.

Wanting to get his mind off the ranking, he placed the book on his lap, turned to the second page, and continued reading from where he left off, noticing it was the last sentence. Turning to the second page, Edward began reading,

\\ Congratulations once more, you have picked your school. I hope you didn't stray from my instruction, but I trust you not to. Things would get a bit harder from now on but still simple enough for you to learn. I hope so.

As you already know, the three schools of magic are Verbal Magician, Somatic Magician, and Sigil Magician. Each school is adapted to different magic, unique to them only.

Verbal Magician

They use the language of magic, known as Bhoalafesh, to cast their magic. Bhoalafesh must be spoken to give the magic shape. If the speaker is interrupted or silenced before they can complete the words, the magic can fail and cancel, but most time, go haywire.

The 'words' part of Bhoalafesh are magical, born from the root itself. Many of these words are eager to return to the Root from which they were spawned and be freed from the prison of the caster's mind. Due to this, such words are hard to remember, almost having lives of their own, a reason why all Verbal Magicians have almost perfect and unworldly memories.

Somatic Magician

They use specific movements which require them to be unhindered to allow them to complete the motions smoothly and safely. Not doing so might result in the spell not working at all or creating some other unintended result.

The movements are the "will" part of the magic, resulting in magic not working without adequate will. The caster might want to cast a fireball, but because their mind or will is more focused on water, it would be almost impossible.

Sigil Magician

The use of specific glyphs, runes, and sigils to perform magic. These are the characters of magic or letters. In essence, you are writing a message to magic, asking it to do something for you. All characters must be drawn by hand precisely, and slight mistakes would result in dire consequences.

These characters are letters of magic, meaning they can be drawn without the means of mana. Focus, precision, and trust in oneself to perform this magic. Most times, not understanding what one is drawing would result in the spell turning on oneself. Meaning knowing the spell and required characters but not understanding said characters would most time result in your death.

I won't bother myself teaching you magic from the Verbal and Somatic school, as you, my student, are part of the Sigil School\\

"How the fuck does he know that?" Edward mumbled to himself, staring at that last sentence.