LEVELLING UP

"Faster!!.... Harder!!...quicken your movements, sharpen your stance, apply pressure!!" The old man yelled as he easily blocked the attack of the younger boy

He rested his hands on his knees, panting and trying to calm his beating heart which was getting louder by the minute. He had been at this since morning and he wasn't able to lay a single strike on him. He tightened his grip on the wooden sword and looked up to see the old man frowning at him, it was obvious that he wasn't pleased

He took a stance immediately, closed his eyes, gripped his sword tighter and jumped. As fast as the wind, he raised his sword and a faint smile could be seen on his lips

'Got you now, old man' He struck but all he could feel was the breeze of his strike. He looked at the place he struck and he saw nothing

'Where was he'

He felt a light touch on his back and before he knew what happened, he flew forward and crashed into the hay inside the shed

"Tskk, tssk .... Still too slow and weak. That's enough for today" The old man said and turned around

"Father...wait, I am not tired" The young boy ran to the man

"I an tired, Roshan. I know you have a lot of potential in you but I don't know what's wrong with you" The man looked down at his son

He put his hand on his hair and ruffled it before speaking

" You are 16 years old and Arkon's Tournament is to start in four months, If you are still like this by then. I don't know if you would even make it past the first round. I am scared for you, Roshan. Your brother played his part in the war and he died respectfully but what about you? Your mother and I are worried you may not make it that far and I need you to keep training to prove us wrong but when will you be able to do that, time is not on your side" The old man said and stared far into the forest as he sensed something.

Roshan kept his head down "I am not weak, Father"

He said bitterly but he knew the truth himself. He was weak, weaker than everybody that he has met. Kids made fun of him, bullied him because he was nothing compared to them

The old man smiled "I know my son, you are a lot stronger than you know. Would you run to the forest and see if you can find meat for tonight's dinner"

Roshan immediately remembered that he should have gone to hunt before now and he picked his little dagger and put it in his back pocket, he bowed and went in the direction of the forest

"I will be back soon" He called to his father and waved

The old man smiled and waved back

Immediately he saw the back of the boy disappearing into the forest. His smile turned into a frown and he rushed into the house to pick his sword

"Darling, We are under attack!!" He called to his wife and few seconds later, the door to their house broke down.

________

Roshan walked deeper into forest as he searched for the animal he would hunt and take home. He would usually hide and wait for a group of beasts to come in and would sneak in to take away the young ones among the herd who was a lot more easier to kill.

As he walked in search of any signs of a herd, his father's words kept ringing in his head. He had heard of the Arkon's Tournament where boys and girls of a particular age would battle and compete in order to be chosen into the Mage School where they would be taught on magic or the Military where they would try to own or develop abilities.

Things were not this way before but it all changed with the arrival of the monsters known as The Daegi.

Noone knew from whence they came but they suddenly invaded earth, destroying everything in its path. Humans fought but not much was done and when it looked like all hope was lost, a certain group of people with strange magic powers and foreign abilities showed up and with their arrival, things turned around for the humans.

But they still couldn't get rid of the Daegi. Both sides fought to a standstill until a peace treaty was proposed and the Deagi Leader came forward to sign it but they both knew it wouldn't last for a long time.

The time span of the peace treaty would be used by both sides to get stronger without the knowledge of the other.

Years passed and the first war turned into a bed time story for the younger generation as most of the civilians no longer paid much attention to the Deagi's attack but the Ones above knew the second war would soon be close.

They created atmospheres and centres to develop the young and stronger generation teaching them how to use their abilities and powers but little did they know that they weren't the only ones trying to get stronger.

Roshan wasn't born with magic powers or abilities despite his mother being a warlock and his dad being a level 50 fire user but his elder brother was gifted with extraordinary talent, at a age of 30 he was able to master the fire ability up to level 35. Roshan always looked up to his brother wanting to be like him and he was proud of him.

Everything shattered when the news of his death was brought as he was killed by a Super Tier beast of level 48. Since then, Roshan began his training to serve in the Military but he was still angry at the thought of him being too weak.

His mind was clouded that he didn't realise he was headed into a ditch and he fell into it.

Thankfully the ditch wasn't too deep and he would be able to climb out of it

He noticed that he landed on a hard object, he began to claw into the ground with his hands and he uncovered a strange looking object in the shape of a book.

"What is this"

_________

Roshan picked the book and looked around it, he tried to open it but nothing was working, he even used his dagger to pry open the book but nothing worked however as he tried using his dagger, the knife slipped out of his hand and grazed his finger causing a small drop of blood to fall on the book.

Immediately the blood fell, he heard a monotone voice

*Bloodline recognised*

«Bloodline?? What the hell was that» Roshan thought but before he could think of anything else, he heard another statement

*Roshan Talon*

*Would you like to access the System*

«What kind of name was that? The person who made this thing must have been really boring» Roshan thought to himself. He actually wanted to know what was in the book but he felt like he needed to show his father before he did anything because this object was really strange

His Curiosity took the best of him

"Yes, I would like to access the System" It felt even weirder saying it

A bright light was shown and immediately the object disappeared from his hand. Where was it? Damn, he should have just kept it for his father instead.

Then a sound echoed in his head

‹Ding›

*Roshan Talon, you have successfully gained control of the System*

Before he could even react, a screen appeared in his head

* Host Level: Level 1

* Current Ability: None

* Strength: 10

* Agility: 8

* Speed: 9

* Stamina: 7

‹Mage Status›

*Mage Level: 0

* Magic Ability: None

* Mana control: 0

HP: [10/10]

Exp points : [0/10]

Quest: Kill a Level 1 beast

Quest Reward: Instant Level up

He ran through all the message, each one of them shocking him as he couldn't even understand. He had a lot of questions running through his head at the moment.

He was least surprised at his mage status because he knew he wasn't meant to be a mage, he was impressed at the creator of this System but what exactly is it.

His eyes went to the screen in front of him and landed at the quest in front of him.

He had yet to kill a Level 1 beast, he hasn't even fought one in order to gauge its strength. He was wondering if he could actually do it, immediately looking at the possible reward his eyes glittered in the dark.

What would be the possible reward if he is was to level up instantly. The curiousity gave him a new resolve and he climbed out of the ditch, he could see it was already very dark. His parents must have been worried, he realised that they still had a little food enough for just the both of them and if he came back with a Level 1 beast meat, that would mean that they would have enough for two months and even more.

This was a good opportunity, he thought as he smiled.

******

He took his dagger and ran off deeper into the forest as he noticed the foot prints of a beast, from its size, he immediately knew it was the beast he was looking for and judging from the fact that it was the only footprint. It was a lone wanderer.

He immediately ran in the direction and saw the beast laying down on the grass as if it was ready to sleep. This was his chance, would this day be any luckier he thought as he smiled.

Stealthily crawling up to the beast, he saw by the look of it that it was a Dim Dog.

Dim Dogs were the weakest of the beasts, they mostly travelled in large group as a result of their weak strength. A hundred Dim Dogs were enough to take down a level 30 Human Soldier.

The Dim Dogs were led by their King, the strongest of all and it was at King tier, A level 30 beast. With that power, it could command thousands of Dim Dogs.

Seeing that this one was alone, it was obvious that it was separated from the herd. The softest part of the Dim Dog was its neck.

He drew closer and slammed his dagger into it's neck, out of shock the Dim Dog eyes flew open and it started running, squealing and Roshan knew this would bring him a lot of trouble if the herd were to hear one of their member's cry.

He was already on top of the Beast as he dragged his dagger out of its neck and slammed it onto the beast head, it was too short to go any deeper and he needed to affect the brain.

He took out the dagger and kept stabbing it and he went deeper. The Dim Dog didn't know why it was feeling this unbearable pain as it kept jumping and howling.

Seeing this, Roshan stabbed the sides of the beast with his legs and dived deeper with the dagger till the beast suddenly stop and fell down unmoving.

Roshan heaved a sigh of relief as he couldn't hear any signs of approaching beasts. He climbed down the beast and felt proud that he actually killed a Level 1 beast.

The Dim Dog flesh was very nutritious and tasty and it would make his parents proud. As he started to savour this victory. A ding echoed in his ear

‹Ding›

*Quest completed*

Now was the time for his rewards.

He was excited as he thought of every possible things the system would give him but he realised it was only an instant level up that the system promised. He was a little bit disheartened because that was the only reward.

He received a notification from the system and he immediately wanted to see what it was.

*QUEST ACHIEVED*

*REWARDS: Instant Level Up*

All of sudden, Roshan felt this new surge of energy coming from deep within and he was renewed

*HOST LEVEL: Level 2

*CURRENT ABILITY: None

*STRENGTH: 11

*AGILITY: 9

*SPEED: 10

*STAMINA: 8

‹Mage Status›

*Mage Level: 0

*Magic Ability: None

*Mana Control: 0

HP: [15/15]

EXP: [0/15]

*One free stat has been obtained*

Looking through his status, Roshan could only marvel, he had never expected this kind of reward. He went through all his attributes and saw that they all gained a point increase from him completing the quest.

He noticed he had what the system called a free stat. 'What the hell was that's he wondered. It was as if the system heard his thought directly because right after that thought he saw a message.

*A free stat is obtained when one earned it. The host would earn it after a wise decision, a successful planned victory. There were other ways to earn it but due to the host's level. Information is currently locked*

*A free stat can be added to current attributes' stat in order to improve the attributes*

After the brief explanation, Roshan wondered what the system meant by 'Information Locked' but he quickly drooled at the fact he could increase one of his attributes.

Immediately he thought of the lowest one 'Stamina'. It was true that he always got tired easily and he need to get rid of that weakness.

He added the stat immediately to his Stamina

*Stat added to Stamina*

*Current Stamina: 9*

It was still a little but at least he improved. He smiled as he dragged the dead beast all the way home.

*************

He dragged the dead beast as he went, though he was a bit far from home as he had travelled far to search for the beast, his parents will be very angry but after seeing the food they would have, they would be pleased. The simple thought made him grin.

As a good tracker, it was faster for him to get through the forest with his nose, he followed the familiar scent of his home and avoided every possible trouble.

A faint smile could be perceived as he got closer.

*****

"Darling, we are under attack" Gray called out to his wife and a few seconds later, the front door of their house came down.

A group of five men all dressed in black with their face fully covered except for their eyes stepped in

'The Night Wings'. Gray immediately knew what they were. Assassins.

He gripped his sword harder and took a fighting stance. He knew this wasn't going to be a easy fight.

The man in front stepped forward and from the menacing eyes, he was the leader.

He moved as fast as possible and swung his sword, a loud clang was heard as Gray's sword was held up high

"Long time, no see. Teacher" The man said as he moved his sword again aiming at the side of the old man.

The old man blocked it again "Looks like you still have the same sloppy moves" Gray said but he spoke too soon as he moved his hand at the right moment to stop a kick coming to his head but he was pushed back .

"Surprised" The young man said as he moved in quicker than before moving in the same sequence 'Strike..kick, Strike...punch'. He kept pushing Gray back into the house.

Gray knew he had to turn the tides. He gripped his sword tighter and flames could be seen forming from the edges of the sword and he slashed. The air around him was distorted because of that single slash.

The Assassin knew he wouldn't escape this so he moved out of the way but it was a little too late as part of the flames had touched him. His armour was burnt black and half of the room was covered in flames.

Seeing this, Gray immediately turned to see how his wife was faring

"Ria, are you alright" He called out to her.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me" A soft, silky voice echoed through the room.

Ria was a powerful warlock, of course she would be fine.

She had currently taken down two of the weaker assassins on her own.

Now she was cornered by the other two. The first moved forward displaying swift movements and slashed at her neck region, the other came and swung at her side.

She knew this needed to be carefully planned if not she would be hurt. She grabbed a dagger from under her coat and block the one aiming for her side. Twisting her body awkwardly. She managed to escape the neck slash with only a slight scratch on her cheek from which blood flowed.

"How dare you draw my blood" She boomed in anger and her eyes turned white, fully white.

She lifted herself in the air, her hair and dress moving wildly as she raised her hands causing the floor around her to be raised. She closed her fist and a loud bang was heard.

The second assassin turned to see his partner explode with blood splashing across the room

'So this is the power of a warlock' He thought as he gaped at her

He moved swiftly attempting to flee away as the large rocks flew towards him. He came close to the door, ready to jump out any second when a loud slash was heard and the assassin's head rolled to the floor.

At that moment, everything became peaceful. All the assassins were dead at the moment. Ria heaved out a breath and fell down on her knees.

She knew using her power would take a toll on her. Gray came by her side "You did well, love. You took out more than me" He said as he smiled at her.