[Unlock]

Chapter 3 New Life as a Mage

As I come outside, Lilin, Lena, and Beph are all waiting for me. Lena quickly comes up to me and something seems different with her. I can see her soul skill [rain] colored about 95% blue and 5% gold hovering around her head. I ask if she can see my soul skills and class, and she just stares at me blankly before laughing and saying I am such a joker.

"You know others can't see soul skills and especially soul skill class unless you have a reveal stone or specifically put it on a guild card or something" She jumps up at me and in her usual puppy-like manner begs me to tell her what my soul skill is and class.

I calm her down just as Lilin and Beph get to me and they of course ask me what type and class my newly revealed soul class is. And just like with Lena, I can see their soul skills and the percentage of each class. Lilin had 88% blue and 4% green and 8% gold around her [germination]. I turn back to the Revealer and ask if it is possible to raise the class of the soul skill, he replies that it is but it is pretty hard to do. This is because the revealer writes the color of the majority of the soul skill when they go through the reveal ceremony. In order to change or upgrade the soul skill a lot of energy must be absorbed to expand the soul energy to the next class, then a reveal stone must show that more than 66% of the soul skill has advanced to the next class. I see since each soul class is exponentially more energy, it becomes that much harder to advance soul skills.

I then turn to Beph and see her soul skill [animal communication] is at 100% and her soul skill [shy] is at 61% blue and 39% green. I think it is probably a function of my secret platinum [unlock] but I am not really sure what it means.

I finally answer that my soul skill is blue class magic type [magic manipulation]. I also tell them that I don't really understand what it means or what kind of magic I can use.

Beph flicks my forehead and snickers before saying "duh, that's why you have to train yourself and use your skill in practice, dumb ani" "So what are your plans now, we all know you want to be an adventurer, you gonna go to an adventurer academy or just jump right into doing jobs for the guild?"

"I'll have to think about it, especially because Lilin and Lena want to join me. I guess we will see, come graduation." I shrug.

"Oh?! Lilin and Lena? Well what would you say to adding one more to the group?" Beph says raising her brows at me and the other two girls.

"What about your studies?" Lilin asks

"I have good enough grades to be able to transfer to any adventuring academy, and am already registered with the guild for some part time work, so either way I can join you guys." Beph says nonchalantly pulling out a green adventure guild card

"It would be great if someone can show us the ropes" Lena jumps in

"Green??! You never told me that you are a green level adventurer!" I exclaim

"So I'll join your party when you form one" laughs Beph. "I gotta study tonight so I can't stay too long for your celebration but let's go get something to eat first." She adds on, while pulling my arm.

I turn towards my parents and say I am going to go grab a bite to eat with the girls and will see them at home. They nod and start heading back home on their own. All along the way the four of us are chatting about what we are going to do in the future.

We go out to eat at a small cafe that we have been coming to since we were all little. The owner knows us, and each of us has a favorite here. As we walk in the owner greets us and congratulates me for my reveal ceremony. I can see his soul skill [cook] with 89%green and 11% blue. I never knew his soul skill or class until now. Soon after we arrive the owner brings out four different dishes. Fried tofu with daikon, ginger and sauce for Lilin; Assorted berries with three different chocolate dipping sauces for Lena; yakiniku for Beph; and Chicken katsu donburi for me. He then brings four melon sodas. After we all finish our respective dishes he brings out a huge ice cream sundae with four spoons for us to share. As the owner places it down, he says "for celebration. Dessert's on the house" and walks back to the kitchen. We shout our thanks towards his back before digging into the huge sundae.

Outside the cafe Beph says she'll see us later and heads back to her dorm. After that Lilin,Lena and I walk towards the magic practice fields at our school. I want to test out my skill. We make our way to the magic practice fields. I decided to test my [magic manipulation]. First let us start with a spell I have already mastered. The red level transcendental spell [familiar summon]. I reach in and imagine Cal in his summoned form. My thoughts manifest into a magic circle a lot faster than usual and Cal manifests in his summoned form with a glowing gold aura.

"He looks bigger" whispers Lena

"Yeah and Wats was able to summon him in less than a second, he normally needs five seconds to form the magic circle" Lilin comments.

Through the familiar link Cal informs me that he could probably stay in this form for about 2 and a half hours without any problems. I also try to calculate his size, and he informs me that he is about 14 tons in this form with more shark teeth, longer legs,bigger paws and more longer wings. His wings seem to give a golden glow. I look closer and see [Wats Familiar] 66%gold 34% black. He is equivalent to a gold mage or combatant, and can manifest for 2 and a half hours. So this is the difference between a red caster and a blue mage.

I send Cal back and decide to continue to test my magic manipulation skill. I wonder if it is all magic all the way up to blue level. Lilin and Lena are helping me some of the spells and formations in soul magic. Lilin is talented with the red [blessing power] and red[cure light] as well as the white stages prior to those two spells, [blessing luck] and [pain heal]. While Lena is a red level caster for all plant type spells, which also falls into soul (aka life) magic. I wasn't very good at casting soul spells, I couldn't picture the magic circles or draw the proper energy into myself.

Lena says we will start with some easy white level plant magic. The first plant magic she wants me to try is [seed sprout]. Even in class I usually have trouble with this spell. After she shows me what to do and explains how the magic circle should look, she gives me a seed and tells me to do the spell. I concentrate and the magic circle easily forms in my head and the seed sprouts.

Lena looks dumbfounded at how easily I cast the spell, and the scale of power. Stammering she says "O..o..okay, lets try the white level spell [root grow]" She explains the structure of the magic circle again and shows me what should happen. Again I concentrate and the circle easily forms in my head and I cast the spell. Lena just sighs and begins to teach me some red level plant spells functions and circle structures. I easily master all of them. Afterwards she looks almost defeated and gives me the names of some plant spell books to further practice.

Watching my progress, Lilin smirks at her sister's attempt to stump me. She then teaches me the white and red level blessing and healing spells that she knows. Since it is hard to practice healing spells without injuries she had me practice some blessing spells on my new plants and seeds. After practicing the spells for a while with the two girls we decide to wrap up and go home. I give each of them a hug and thank them for teaching me soul magic. As I was walking away from them Lena calls out "don't forget to open your presents, see you tomorrow!"

After Lilin and Lena left, I decided that I wanted to practice just a little more. I pulled out my Elemental Magic for Beginners textbook. The highest spells that are broken down into magic circles are red level, and only explanations of some green level elemental magics are listed. I try out a few white level spells, and find that they are all easier to cast, I am faster at casting them and their power output are all increased. As I flip through the book to find some interesting spells, a section I never noticed appears towards the back. However I can't read any of the pages. I realize that it must be a scramble enchantment that requires a certain amount of mana to be poured into it to unlock it. As I'm about to pour mana into it my skill [unlock] seems to blink and pulse in front of me. I try to direct power towards it to try to activate it as a test. Suddenly the unreadable section of the textbook is readable, and a incomplete magic circle is inscribed beneath the title of the section...