Level up!

The Magician Association classified the strength of magicians into several realms according to the state of their evolution, and the early stage of the magical realm was the evolutionary stage of every magician who could hold even a single unit of magic.

Elliot himself was in the early stage of the magical realm!

To be more exact, he was behind the early stage of the magical realm.

His body that could only contain two units of magic energy classified him into stage 0 of the magical realm.

The worst of the worse!

The fact was that even after training for the past whole year, his body couldn't contain more than two units of magic energy.

He was stuck at the first level for his entire life.

His life was a joke.

The Magician Association has divided the magical realm into 10 levels according to the amount of magic energy a person can contain in his body.

Magician who could contain 1 to 10 units of magic energy was said to be in the first level of the magical realm. Similarly, 11 to 20 meant being in the advanced stage, and being able to contain 100 units of magic energy in one's body meant being in the peak level of the magical realm just one step away from the Channel Opening realm.

Many people liked to taunt and make fun of Elliot as he was stuck at the first level.

Elliot shook his head to get rid of such haunting thoughts as he didn't want to wallow over his embarrassing and cruel past.

He focused more on the present.

"I have always been stuck at stage 0, but now there is a way for me to advance further."

Elliot didn't let his embarrassing past shatter his ambitions.

He wanted to become stronger and be respected by the masses.

He was tired from being looked down upon all the time.

<How many units of the essence of life do I need to reach the second level of the magical realm?"

<The Champion will need to say the keywords "Show Status" to find out>

Elliot didn't hesitate for even a single moment and uttered the keywords in his mind, "Show Status!"

<Champion: Elliot Vincent>

<Race: Human>

<Evolutionary Stage: Magical Realm>

Essence of Life: 0 units

<Level 1: 0/10 essence of life>

<Magic energy: 2 units>

<HP: 10/10>

<Strength: 12>

<Stamina: 12>

<Agility: 12>

A blue semi-transparent screen showing his status suddenly popped up in front of his eyes causing his eyes to widen in awe and making him think that it looks similar to the stats of a character in a game.

<The Artifact will help you grow and enter the next level once you've collected enough essences of life>

"Cool. I understand." Elliot nodded, a smile stretching across his face.

There were two ways for him to obtain the essence of life and that was to defeat or kill someone and use the authority of life on them to extract essences of life from their bodies.

He wondered, however, if there's any other way.

"Is there any other way to obtain the essence of life?"

The same thing happened once again and new words appeared on the black screen.

<You can find the answer to your question by checking the tabs on top of the status screen>

There were tabs on top of the status screen that popped up in his vision after he uttered the keywords for it to appear in his mind, but he was too excited and forgot to check them out.

He checked them out one by one.

There were three more tabs 'Trials', 'Shop', and finally, 'Inventory' and each one represented something else.

The screen automatically switched without him doing anything except for just uttering the name of the tabs in his mind.

<Shop>

<Description: A place where the Champion can sell items for the essence of life and purchase items or the essence of life for an item of equal value>

<Locked: Reach Channel Opening Evolutionary Stage>

He opened the inventory tab.

<Inventory>

<Description: A place where the Champion can store his items>

<Status: Locked>

<Conditions to Unlock: Reach the third level of the Magic Realm Evolutionary Stage>

The last tab he checked was the trial tab and it was the only one that wasn't locked behind a golden lock and black chains.

<Trial "The Path towards Greatness" is ongoing>

<Do 100 press-ups>

<Performed: 0/100>

<Do 100 Sit-up>

<Performed: 0/100:

<Eat 2 Kg of meat>

<Consumed: 0/2 Kg>

<Swing a weapon 100 times>

<Performed: 0/100>

<Rewards: +10 essences of life>

<Time Limit: twelve hours>

<Failure to complete the mission before the time limit will result in a penalty>

<You won't be able to accept a trial for a month>

<You'll be stripped of your rights and lose your qualifications as a Champion of the Northern Duke of Dark Starlight once you fail three trials in a row>

"Could I really become stronger by performing these basic exercises and eating well?"

<Yes>

Elliot spat out a dumbfounded chuckle as soon as he read the details of the trial that'll help him advance to Level 2!

He didn't hesitate a moment longer and dropped to the ground to perform the first out of the four tasks mentioned in the trial.

<You've Performed 100 push-ups>

<You've Performed 100 sit-ups>

<You've Swung a weapon 100 times>

Sometime later, once he was done with the first three tasks of the trial, Elliot found himself exhausted to the bone but he didn't stop and walked up to the mini refrigerator of his room, opened it up, and took out two parcels of chicken meat.

He couldn't afford a better quality meat.

"What should I prepare?"

Elliot shook his head.

"No time to think about it."

He added the chicken to the pan and threw in a few spices like an expert on cooking technique and prepared himself 2 kg worth of meat.

<You've consumed 2 kg of chicken meat>

<The Trial "The Path towards Greatness" has been completed>

<You've been rewarded ten units of the essence of life>

<You've gained enough experience to level up>

<Would you like to level up?>

These notifications popped up in front of his vision after he finished eating 2 kg of chicken meat in a single meal and burped out loud for several seconds.

"Yes!" Elliot said after burping to his heart content.

<You've reached level 2 of the magical realm evolutionary stage>

<Your magic energy capacity has increased to 20 points>

Immediately after, Elliot felt something entering his body.

The magic energy in nature was following into his body!

He hasn't felt this feeling in his entire life!

Elliot closed his eyes as warmness filled every fiber of his being, and it was only after a few minutes that this otherworldly feeling vanished without a trace.

<Magic energy: 20/20 units>

"Hahahahahahah!"

Elliot laughed so hard that tears started to stream down the corners of his eyes.