That night, before lying down to sleep, Ken felt that he could cast another few spells without triggering his ever-present burnout limit. He had recently purchased a Common Grade spell from the city. It was a popular spell among low-level mages who relied on fishing or hunting for a living.
"Sifirtu!"
The first attempt failed, predictably. Ken sensed his failure counter inch a step closer to the burnout limit. Not deterred, he tried again. Another failure. He was right on the border of his limits now.
"Sifirtu!"
Finally, his talent and affinity for magic came to the rescue, and a layer of transparent liquid formed around his palms. This spell gave the caster a target to be wrapped in a layer of adhesive fluids.
Ken looked at the wall beside his bed and slapped his palm on it, keeping it pressed for a good few seconds. Then he tried to tug his hand back, only to find it incredibly difficult without tearing out his skin.
"Ah, shit, probably should have used another target." Ken came to regret the foolish decision a lot more when he realized that he had no direct method of separating his palm from the wall. In the end, he had to spend a couple of hours to cast a Flamepalm spell, summoning a fireball that got compressed into a millimeter-thick layer of fire between his palm and the wall, melting off the liquid adhesive.
Had the Flamepalm spell's core characteristic not included the protection of the caster's hand from the fire, Ken wouldn't have known what to do except to rip his palm off the wall forcefully.
On the flip side, the spell finally took him past the edge of his level as a mage.
[ Class: Mage ]
[ Class Aptitude: Mana Affinity (2) ]
[ Class Grade: Ordinary ]
[ Grade Level: 3/9 ]
[ Level Exp: 501/500 ]
[ Breakthrough: Now/Later ]
[ Spell Library: Flamepalm (Common); Adhesive Condensation (Common); Sturgeon Totem (Common); Object Consciousness (Common);.... ]
Ken immediately chose the first option to break through to level 4.
[ Alert: Subject has broken through to Level 4 in the Ordinary Grade. Choose one of the following enhancements to continue your journey as a mage. ]
[1. Elemental Affinity ]
[ 2. Mana Affinity ]
[ 3. Channel Enhancement ]
[ 4. Physical Attributes ]
Ken didn't hesitate to choose the Mana Affinity option this time either. His Class Aptitude rose from level 2 to level 3.
[ Class: Mage ]
[ Class Aptitude: Mana Affinity (3) ]
[ Class Grade: Ordinary ]
[ Grade Level: 4/9 ]
[ Level Exp: 0001/2000 ]
[ Spell Library: Flamepalm (Common); Adhesive Condensation (Common); Sturgeon Totem (Common); Object Consciousness (Common);.... ]
Now, Ken's Physical stats and Class Stats had reached the same level in the Ordinary Rank. But aside from earning some experience points for doing physical labor every day, Ken's physique was far from getting an improvement.
[ Level 4 ]
[ Exp: 0102/1250 ]
[ Attributes: Strength (1.3), Speed (1.1), Stamina (1.6), Magic Affinity (4.0) ]
Many humans deemed the low limits of the level cap for their Physique as a blessing. For example, at the same level as Ken, a human warrior only needed to amass 1250 level Exp to reach the peak of level 4. But as a mage, Ken needed to amass 2000 level Exp to accomplish the same. Those who didn't have the guidance of an experienced master often chose the path of warriors for this reason, and ended up realizing how nearsighted their vision had been.
If one wanted to win in the long run, choosing the path with the highest level limits was the only correct option. A higher limit meant a higher unearthed potential-- this was a principle known to every being at the Super Rank and up. The enhancements brought by the correct Class choice were incomparably better than other convenient shortcuts to power.
Feeling refreshed from leveling up, Ken laid down on his bed and fell asleep quickly. He had lots of plans for the next day.
However, when he woke up, disoriented, the candles by his bedside were still burning, meaning less than a couple of hours had passed. It was the dead of night, and Ken didn't have to wonder for long why his sleep had been broken.
"Master! Master!" Simm's panicked shouts were still resounding through the underground tunnel. Ken quickly left his room and barged inside hers; only to discover her hunched over the baby cribs.
With a pounding heart, Ken ran beside her and looked down at the sleeping baby she was holding. It was Kenshi, their son who had just reached level 2 yesterday with Ken's interference in his progression panel.
However, the familiar panel was now blinking bizarrely, and a popup notification occupied the forefront.
[ Alert: The child's natural growth has been interfered with by foreign influence. The forced level increase has failed to assimilate the attributes with the child's lacking physique. Strong rejection has been detected. Assessing condition... ]
"Master, what's going on? He was fine the entire day! Why is there a backlash from leveling up now?!" Simm's panic was growing by the second.
"Calm down, Simm. We don't know if it's a backlash for leveling up or something else. It was indeed unnatural for him to reach level 2 at this young age. Let's see what the world spirit's assessment comes up with first..."
Trying to placate her, Ken waited for a new notification to appear. The seconds turned into minutes, and the excruciating wait became almost too much to bear calmly. Then finally, the red light of the alert disappeared from the progression panel, replaced by a new sentence.
[ A strong bloodline passage has been detected between the child and its parents, perfectly suitable for attribute transmission. Activating passageway...Establishing connection... ]
Both Ken and Simm were startled by their own progression panels lighting up simultaneously, showing a new message.
[ Alert: Artificial Talent- Bloodline Extraction has been charged. Extracting...]
[ Strength (+0.05); Speed (+0.05); Stamina (+0.05); Dexterity (+0.05); Magic Affinity (+0.05) ]
[ Extraction complete. Examine your secondary panels to see the changes. ]