As Leonard was grinding his [Mana Manipulation] and [Magical Ability] skills, the teacher, Hanna, kept looking at him. "How interesting. His mana has suddenly risen and the flow of mana is faster. This is a clue for having an easier mana manipulation than before. That means he was hiding his true abilities. I wonder why and why did he reveal them now?" Hanna thought, but she didn't think that he gained this ability and mana at this second because having a stronger mana control and gaining more mana reserves is a very hard task and can't be gained in minutes. She then looked away and looked at the students wanting to find a good seedling like Leonard.
Leonard kept trying to level up his skills, but leveling them from level 1 to 2 is very hard. He trained for more than 40 minutes and he gained a +1 proficiency point in both Mana Manipulation and Magical Skill only.
Suddenly, the teacher, Hanna, started talking, "The lesson has ended. Please Leonard, stay here. I want to talk to you," she said, making the guys look at him in envy and the girls in hostility, as gaining a powerful ally like her is a huge improvement to their noble strength and connections. Leonard looked down, confused and angry, but with his enhanced intelligence from the 5 points, he understood that she may have realized he had more mana suddenly appearing or something else a wizard like her would do. "Could she have discovered the system?" he thought, a little scared as all of them left. Leonard thinking of countermeasures on what he will do. He doesn't want to be a rat in a laboratory so they can discover the secret of the system. He stood before her and smiled his best fake smile, "How can I help you, Miss Hanna?" Hanna looked at him directly, realizing he was smiling fakely, but she didn't care and spoke directly, "In the class, I realized that you were hiding your true mana reserve and how much control you have over your mana. I wanted to know why did you hide your magical potential?" she said, making Leonard curse in his heart as a notification appeared,
[I'm the trickster].
Condition: Manage to make her not suspect you.
Reward: 10 points.
He looked at the ground sadly, begging for all his persuasion skills to work. "Ah, that as you know, Miss Hanna, I'm a bastard in the Ziser family, and as a bastard, I don't have any political connections that a noble has, so I hidden my true abilities, scared that my other half brothers and sisters will target me, seeing me as a threat of my magical talent," Leonard looked at her, crying fake tears. "I-I thought m-maybe I-if I showed you m-my talent you will protect me and don't a-allow my family to hurt me," said Leonard, sobbing heavily as he looked down. As a notification appeared, [Congratulations for the host for gaining the skill [Acting],
[Congratulations for the host for upgrading acting to level 1],
[Congratulations for the host for gaining the skill [Lying],
[Congratulations for the host for upgrading lying to level 1].
Leonard ignored it as he kept sobbing and looking down, making Hanna feel bad about him. She wiped his tears and spoke softly, "Don't worry Leonard, I will not allow anyone to hurt any of my students. If someone did, I will zap them," she said, trying to brighten the mood. Leonard looked at her, smiling brightly. "Thanks Miss Hanna," he said. "Now, why don't you go? You have an eloquence class, and don't worry about your family. No one will try to touch you from now on," she said as Leonard nodded and left. As soon as he left, a huge smile plastered on his face. "Mission accomplished," he thought as a notification appeared:
[I'm the Trickster]
Congratulations to the host for completing the quest.
Reward: 10 points.
He quickly used all his points.
Name: Leonard Ziser
Race: Human
Age: 15
Level: 1
HP: 100
MP: 200
STR: 10
AGI: 6
END: 10
INT: 20
WIS: 8
Points: 0
Skills: [Sword Fighting] lvl 2 [Eloquence] lvl 3 [Silver Tongue] lvl 1 [Magical Ability] lvl 1 [Basic Mana Manipulation] lvl 1 [Lying] lvl 1 [Acting] lvl 1
He closed his eyes, feeling himself getting stronger and more intelligent. Memories from when he was a 6-year-old child started appearing, but not clearly. His body felt much stronger and tougher. He kept walking in the extravagant school corridors and found the eloquence room. He entered it and was surprised because the room looked more extravagant than his father's office. It was a huge room where many bookcases existed everywhere about elegance, eloquence, and the art of speech. He quickly went to where his classmates were and sat down where a 30-year-old teacher stood. He had blonde hair, blue eyes, was tall and muscular, but his very presence exuded elegance. The teacher looked at him, "Can you introduce yourself?" "Leonard Ziser, sir," Leonard said. "Ah, the famous bastard from the Ziser family. I wonder how much did your dad pay to allow you to enter this academy?" Leonard cursed his luck of having a pure-blooded fanatic as a teacher. He quickly looked down silently, not wanting to have trouble with the teacher on his first day. He ignored the scoffs and laughs and mocking from most students, "Pure-blood bastards," he cursed them in his heart as the teacher smiled, amused. "Don't you know that not answering the teacher is bad for eloquence and not elegant? Due to this, I'm afraid I have to take marks from your eloquence grades," the teacher said, making Leonard curse more in his heart. But he looked at the teacher calmly, "Yes, Mr. Brown," Leonard said as the teacher nodded his head and kept teaching. Leonard kept listening to everything intensely, even if the teacher was a pure-blood fanatic that believed only pure-bloods should enter the academy and have noble positions. But he was clearly good in this subject and at the end of the lesson, his eloquence had been raised by 5% and silver tongue by 25%.
The next lesson was weapon fighting. The teacher was a huge man that was more than 2 meters tall, had big muscles, and a scar on his face. He held a huge sword on his back, had black hair and black eyes, and an average face. He exuded an intimidating presence that was one of the weapon masters in the kingdom, Gerald, the Giant Slayer. The most surprising thing about him was that he was not a noble but a civilian that had risen in rank by doing many military deeds until he became one of the best weapon masters in the whole of country alpha.
"Hello everyone, welcome to weapon training," said Gerald, also known as the Giant Slayer, as he looked at the group of students. "Here, we will train with every weapon you want to train with. But first, let's introduce ourselves. I'm Gerald, AKA the Giant Slayer. So, let's start with you," he said, pointing to one of the students. Each student introduced themselves, until it was Leonard's turn. "Hello, my name is Leonard Ziser," said Leonard. The commander raised his brow, but didn't comment. "Now, let's start. Please pick the weapon you want to try first," the teacher said. The students picked a variety of weapons, including bows, swords, and even a bastard sword. Leonard picked a normal sword, as it was his hobby and he had experience with it. The teacher asked all of them to train with their chosen weapon for five minutes, while he stood aside analyzing their training.
Five minutes later, the teacher asked them to stop and started giving tips to each person on sword fighting, including Leonard. At the end of the lesson, Leonard gained +40 proficiency points in sword fighting. The school day was filled with different lessons, including history, math, and a lesson on how to manage an inheritance and personal guards. At the end of the day, Leonard gained new skills in math and leadership, and gained 1 point in intelligence and 1 point in strength and endurance from sword training.
Leonard summarized his gains as he looked at his status:
Name: Leonard Ziser
Race: Human
Age: 15
Level: 1
HP: 110
MP: 210
STR: 11
AGI: 6
END: 11
INT: 21
WIS: 8
Points: 0
Skills: [Sword Fighting] lvl 2, [Eloquence] lvl 3, [Silver Tongue] lvl 1, [Magical Ability] lvl 1, [Basic Mana Manipulation] lvl 1, [Lying] lvl 1, [Acting] lvl 1, [Math] lvl 1, [Leadership] lvl 1
[Math] lvl1
The host is amateur in math-related stuff +5% to the host's ability to calculate in his mind.
[Leadership] lvl 1, the host is an amateur leader +5% people will look at the host as a leader.
Leonard sighed, thinking of how strong he had become in just one day. He looked at all the extravagant horse carriages, then looked at his old horse carriage that looked like it belonged to a peasant. He sighed as he greeted the old man driving the carriage and went inside.
The carriage started moving, and Leonard started thinking of his family. Leonard had 3 half-brothers and 2 half-sisters, and was older than the last-born half-brother. Due to this, he didn't have a good life as he was always bullied due to him being the disgrace of the family. He remembered when he was a 4-year-old child, he walked to his father, asking for help with the abuse from his half-brothers and sisters, but his father just looked at him coldly, not saying anything and kept walking away. Leonard didn't understand what was happening as he was still a child. He endured the abuse every day. During his childhood, there was a servant that Leonard loved as a father. The servant was the only one who helped him and took care of him and his wounds after the abuse. He always found him when he was sad and would tell him all his problems. But one day, his eldest brother found him talking and smiling with the servant. The next day, the servant disappeared and his corpse was discovered.
Two days later, Leonard sat in the basement, reflecting on the tears he had shed. The abuse he had endured had hardened him, turning him into a cold and emotionless person. He had even attempted suicide multiple times, but the thought that his siblings would win if he died kept him from going through with it. Now, as he sat in a carriage looking out the window, he felt a sudden, demonic smile spread across his face. "I swear I will repay you back 1000 times for what you did to me," he thought, as the smile disappeared from his face. John, who was also in the carriage, looked at Leonard's memories with a mixture of sadness and intrigue. "How interesting, and how sad," he thought, "but that is to be expected from the treatment of a bastard in a noble household in a world like the Middle Ages." As he watched Leonard sitting in the carriage, John couldn't help but feel a sense of sympathy for his companion.