Chapter 15
After a series of discussions, the first mage granted Grey a new skill called Appraisal, which allowed him to view a mage's stats and gauge their strength. Eager to test it out, Grey knew just the perfect test subject.
'Time to see how strong he really is.' Grey smirked—only for that smirk to freeze on his face.
As he used Appraisal on the first mage, all he saw were question marks. Every single magical skill, every attribute, all of it displayed as '???'.
"What the hell??!!" Grey blurted out, his eyes widening in shock.
The first mage merely smiled, as if he already knew what was happening. And, of course, he did.
"Let me guess, you tried using the skill on me?" the mage chuckled.
Grey nodded, confirming the mage's suspicion.
"And it came out as question marks, right?" the mage asked again, his smile widening.
"How do you know all this?" Grey asked, bewildered.
"Haha! Aren't I the one who gave you the skill? How wouldn't I know what would happen?" the mage laughed.
"I don't understand. You were able to see my attributes, yet I can't see yours. Why is that?" Grey questioned, his brows furrowing.
"Because I'm stronger than you. I can see your attributes because you're weaker than me. If you were stronger, it would have been the other way around," the mage explained.
"Oh! So all I have to do is surpass you, right? Then that's exactly what I'll do!" Grey said, determination burning in his eyes.
"That's the spirit! Grow stronger than me, and then we can finally talk business," the mage said as he stood up. His white, throne-like chair vanished instantly.
"I'm leaving now. Since my business with you is done, you won't see me again until I decide it's time for our next talk. Study the books I gave you and grow strong enough to best me.
Then we will proudly help you when the otherworlders come."
'We again? He mentioned 'we' earlier. What does he mean?' Grey pondered.
The mage was about to snap his fingers when Grey quickly interrupted him.
"Hold on, I have a question." Grey's voice made the mage pause, raising an eyebrow.
"You keep saying 'we' throughout this conversation. You even just said it again. What do you mean by that?" Grey asked, eyes narrowing.
The mage simply smiled, bringing his fingers together. "When the time is right, you will know."
And with a snap, the mage vanished from Grey's view.
"Damn that mage for always leaving me in suspense!" Grey groaned, only to quickly cover his mouth, worried his mother might hear him.
"Wait... I've been talking to that mage for so long. We even shouted multiple times. Why hasn't Mom come through those doors by now?" he wondered. Quickly, he hid the books the mage had given him and exited the room.
Heading downstairs, Grey saw his mother still preparing dinner. It looked like she was almost done. Hearing his footsteps, she turned around and smiled at him.
"Hey, honey! Go set the table, dinner is almost ready," Clara said.
Grey got to work, setting and arranging the table while his mother dished out the food. They sat together, eating dinner, happily chatting and momentarily setting their worries aside. But deep down, Clara couldn't help but worry about her son's future. Still, she kept smiling, engaging in their conversation for as long as she could.
After dinner, Grey took it upon himself to clear the table and wash the dishes.
"Alright, Mom, I'm heading to my room to sleep now," Grey announced from the kitchen.
"Alright, honey. Goodnight," Clara replied warmly.
"Goodnight, Mom. I love you," Grey said with a smile.
"And I love you too, son," Clara responded as Grey made his way to his room.
Entering and closing the door behind him, Grey let out a sigh and pulled out the books he had received from the first mage.
As he shuffled through them, searching for the right one, his eyes landed on a book that didn't seem related to magical affinities.
"What's this?" Grey muttered, pulling the book out and reading the cover.
Introduction to Magic Runes, Symbols, and Portals.
"Runes and portals?" A grin spread across his face. "I'll check it out later. For now, I need a fire spell book."
Continuing his search, Grey finally found what he was looking for—a fire spell book containing basic, intermediate, and advanced spells all in one.
"Bingo! This is perfect," he said as he hid the other books away.
Positioning himself at the center of his sparse room, Grey began reading the book carefully—word for word, sign for sign, movement for movement.
He started with a simple spell: creating small flames on the palm of his hand. Slowly, he guided the fire around, twirling it between his fingers, trying to get a feel for it. As he gained confidence, he gradually increased the size of the flame.
Satisfied with his progress, he moved on to his next challenge—casting a fireball.
Reading through the spell's description, he took a deep breath and tried it out.
He failed.
Again, he tried.
And failed once more.
Undeterred, he repeated the attempt a dozen times, but each effort ended in failure. Before he realized it, his mana had been completely drained.
Frustrated, he sank to the floor, forcing himself into a meditative stance to restore his mana.
'There has to be a better way to restore mana without relying on meditation,' he thought bitterly. 'I can't afford to be meditating in the middle of a fight just to recover my energy. The stronger my spells, the faster my mana will deplete. I should have asked that mage for a technique to help with this!'
Clenching his fists, he exhaled slowly. 'No use whining about it now. I'll just have to keep practicing until I master it all.'
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{A/N}
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