"If you haven't maxed out your stats, we will continue with trial 2. I hope you haven't, weakling." Trench said as Rapt looked to check his stats.
STATUS
Name: Rapt
Stats:
Level: 1
Experience: 100/100
Health 35/35 Condition: exhausted
Strength: 5 (max)
Speed: 9 (max)
Stamina: 7 (max)
Agility: 8 (max)
Intelligence: 7 (max)
Physical Resistance: 10 (max)
Mental Resistance: 10 (max)
Skills: None
Blessings: Blessing of the Beast God
Rapt was shocked to see all of the growth that he went through and noticed that all his stats were maxed out. When he remembered the replay of the end of the fight, he could guess that the abrupt growth was due to that. 'I probably would have died after that fight without the Gods to heal me.' He thought.
Trench stood there waiting for Rapt to answer him, getting pissed watching the raptor forget about him. "[vine whip]" Trench muttered, sending a small vine from a nearby tree slapping Rapt across his right side. This shocked Rapt out of his stupor as he felt the pain.
"I hate repeating myself and being ignored runt. Now are you maxed out or not?" Trench asked glaring down at Rapt.
"Yes, I am" Rapt replied, to which a snort from Trench followed.
"I wish it hadn't." Trench mumbled as Vanessa, Teka, Cherish, and Bados appeared next to him.
"Before we proceed with the mana immersion, do you have any questions Rapt?"
"What happened to trials 3 and 4?"
"Hehe, you passed them silly. Do you remember any dreams that you had?" Teka said to Rapt drawing a confused look and nod from him.
"Those were trials 3 and 4." She stated.
"Those seemed quick" Rapt said in response.
"Quick? You've been recovering while doing those trials for the past 5 and a half months." Bados stated with a serious look on his face.
"Huh?" Rapt was shocked by the revelation.
While he was shocked by the time that had passed by. Before he could come to grips with it, he heard Lord Bados say," let start the immersion". The three Gods instantly appeared around him holding hand as a surge of mana started to build.
Rapt instincts scream of the danger as the mana started to increase rapidly. He soon saw that the three Gods acted like a barrier containing the mana to the spot he was in. After a minute, Rapt's vision began to darken as he passed out. But unbeknownst to him or the Gods, he still seemed conscious as his body rapidly absorbed the mana in like a bottomless pit.
Bados, Teka, and Cherish glanced at each other as the noticed that something was wrong after Rapt continued to absorb mana after 15 minutes had passed.
"What should we do?" Teka said.
"We must continue until his element shows" Bados firmly said followed by a nod from Cherish.
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Mr. Canty glared at Matt before demanding that no one in the class talk about the differences in prestige between their families. They weren't warriors who earned that prestige but instead a beneficiary of those before them. This made Matt glare at Ria as he thought,' why does the king make us all equals in school, even those whose families aren't productive to the kingdom'.
Mr. Canty went on in the lecture," can anyone tell me how to determine a beast's element?"
Seeing the usual hands of diligent student raising in the air, Mr. Canty decided to call on Lynn Scott another student from a powerful family. "Lynn, can you tell me?"
Lynn who wasn't playing attention, looked around the classroom before lowering her head down in embarrassment shaking her head.
Looking around the class again, He decided to call on another student named Demetri Snead. "Demetri, do you know"
"Yes sir, some beast's coloration shows their element but isn't a hundred percent accurate. That's why most warrior regardless of element learn to read mana instead since it's more accurate."
"So, then how does one learn such a skill?" Mr. Canty asked
Once again, the expected hands were raised in the air. This time he called on a student with his hand raised. "Lewis, care to explain it for the class?"
"Yes sir, one must have proficient mana control and required stats to unlock the mana sense skill."
"Correct, and why is proficiency in mana important, John?"
"i-it's needed to unlock the skill since moving mana around without proper control can damage the user" he managed to squeak out.
"Also correct, so after one has unlocked the skill does mana proficiency and stats still have an important function in the development of the skill, Natasha? "
"Yes, it does sir. It can increase the level and proficiency of the skill allowing the user to judge the beasts level and element more precisely and from a further distance."
"Correct, this is important knowledge since it can save your life by allowing you to notice powerful beasts before they notice you. So today you all will be facing beast that are low-tier level one beast in groups of four. We will check your levels to make sure that the groups are equal in terms of power. Those that are too powerful will be going a different group that will face a med-tier level one beast." Mr. Canty explained to the class before asking them to follow him to the nurse office at the academy.
When they arrived at the nurse's office. Despite being called an office was similar in size to the typical classrooms which were 10 meters wide (32 feet) and 14 meters long (45 feet). Classrooms would double as practice areas for student to test skills, mana control, and practice bouts with weapons during practical lessons under a watchful eye of their teacher.
"Good morning, students and Mr. canty. Please follow me towards the element crystal and level reader.", the sweet and innocent Head nurse Joy said as they walk-in. As they walked through the medical areas, various nurses could be seen tending to those who had injured themselves. Whether through the various means, such as being injured be the neglect of fellow students either by accident or intentional means. The class made its way towards the back near a crystal and machine and stood against the wall to wait for further instructions. Head nurse Joy then proceed to call the names of the students in alphabetical order," Alice and Alex jet, please step forward in front of one of the items".
Alice stepped in front of the crystal while her twin brother Alex stepped in front of the reader. When Alice placed her hand upon the crystal in a matter of seconds' small embers could be seen inside the crystal. Alex had stepped on the reader as it performed a skill placed on it through enchantment to allow other to view the system that one had.
Mr. canty walked forward and documented the information in his notepad after both switched to the other item. This process continued in this way until Mr. canty looked at his full account of his students:
Alice Jet (element fire, level 1, mid-tier), Alex jet (level 1, high-tier, element wind), Blake Ors (element water, level 1, low-tier), Demetri Snead (element earth, level 1, high-tier), Hugo Pat (element light, level 1, low-tier), John Ethi (element water, level 1, mid-tier), Lewis Connor (element wind, level 1, mid-tier), Lynn Scott (element fire, level 1, low-tier), Matt Barq (element shadow, level 2, peak low-tier), Nastasha Dior (element earth, level 1, mid-tier), Ria Might ( element fire, level 2, peak high-tier), Walker Tex (element earth, level 1, low-tier).
When everyone saw that Ria had the highest level in the class and was peak level. Those that came from the slum thought, 'even if you came from the slums, you could become strong'. While those who came from prestigious families were shocked and even furious at the sight since they knew about her family. Even the head nurse and Mr. Canty were surprised by her level since most student range from mid-level 1 for those from prestigious families and low level 1 for those from the slums. Of course, there would be outliers like Matt, but Ria's level didn't fit in that range.
With the class done with the nurse office the Class followed Mr. canty to the Training field where the beasts were held. " Blake, Alice, Hugo, John; you're Group 1. Lewis, Lynn, Natasha, Walker; you're Group 2. Alex, Matt, Demetri, Ria; you're group 3. Line up with the others in your group."
After the Groups were made Mr. Canty called group 1 forward to pick out their weapons and allowed them 5 minutes to talk about strategy while the two other groups moved out of the area. As the groups time was reaching to start point, clouds started to fill the sky around the kingdom as thunder rumbled and lightning flashed. The captured beast started to make noise and bash against their confines, Mr. Canty rushed towards group 1 and brought them back with the rest before heading to safety.
The students looked at Mr. Canty for an answer to why he would act in such a manner over a sudden storm and seeing their confused and curious looks, he said," A new Beast blessed has been chosen."
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Back with the three Gods, they continue to watch as Rapt draw in the mana. The first to notice superficial changes to Rapt Physique was Bados, who noticed that his scales were change in coloration. Internally his body was going through major changes starting with his bones and muscles changing in density and mass. This was accomplished by the mana breaking down his musculoskeletal structure. Even his tendons, ligaments and soft tissues weren't left untouched. Next his organs went through modifications that were applied to his lungs, stomach, brains and many other organs. His organs all gained one universal adaptation, mana veins, these veins absorbed and circulated the mana stored in the body.
Rapt's body underwent those changes for over an hour causing great confusion and interest from the five onlookers.
"He should have completed the process a while ago" Cherish said as they had done mana immersions enough to have a general base for time.
"It looks like his body is attuned to mana and with your blessing it's pushing his growth beyond simply changes." Bados chimes in.
"Maybe his death caused some changes to him as well."
Slowly Teka noticed a change in the mana as it started to favor an element. Bados and Cherish started to sense it a little while later. As the element gained more ground, sparks could be seen in the sealed off area. Those sparks showed that lightning would be his element and with each spark the next became twice as powerful.
"I think we can stop now" Cherish said
"No, Let's continue."
The sparks continued to increase as the mana was absorbed. Those sparks soon turned into bolts that began to smash again the walls constructed by the three Gods. Those bolts started to gather at the top of the containment shields as the rate of absorption dropped drastically. The rate eventually became almost nonexistent. When the absorption finally stopped all the gathered lightning discharged towards Rapt creating a small shockwave as thunder clapped. After the strike Rapt collapse on the ground with small currents running over his skin.
"A lightning user that's rare."
"This is a first, a full 4 hours has passed."
"It cracked the barriers"
Each of the Gods focused on a different aspect that had interested them. While they were muttering about the peculiar nature of this mana immersion, Rapt was still going through his final changes.