A/N: Don't own the over that is Black. I do however own myself so yea.
Wilhelm opened the book to the first page and saw writing was there, writing that to the others looked like pure gibberish but to him it was plain to read. At the top of the page it read a single sentence, before showing messages in a pattern.
Leveled up: Gamer Magic is now level one.
No one moved or said anything, waiting for Wilhelm to say what was in his grimoire, he being the only person who can decipher the words written in it. Wilhelm looked at that first sentence again, not moving past it as he was stuck on the name of his magic.
Sol was the first to speak, rather impatiently. "Well?! What's your magic?"
"It is called Gamer Magic." Wilhelm for once didn't show annoyance with Sol, too preoccupied with the awe of having his grimoire reveal his magic to him.
"Gamer Magic? Sounds lame."
"Oh and making dolls out of dirt is so much better." Wilhelm instantly regained his usual tone with Sol.
"Smacked you around."
"..." Wilhelm turned back to his grimoire and actively looked at the rest of the first page. The first thing he saw was a picture outline of a body, with varying shades of color around the inside of the limbs. The left arm was a dark orange, the right arm being lighter in shade. The left thigh was yellow, as well as the torso and everything else was green. For some reason it clicked in his head that it was him, like a drawn status of his body's condition. He didn't question his arms being in the orange after they were the main focus of damage fighting that girl just earlier. Below that he saw a few rows of words and numbers, and read them.
Physical Stats:
Health: Poor
Strength: 4
Speed: 3
Agility: 3
Stamina: 4
Endurance: 7
Stealth: 5
Wilhelm didn't see anything else that was a different stat, but each of the physical things, excluding health, had a bar next to them with different levels of progress, indicating that he had them building up before the book even counted. He didn't know if these were good numbers or not however. He definitely knew his health being stated as poor was not good, And figured it was poor given how he never really had the chance to do more than just find enough to just live before the last few days.
After he read the stats he saw a bar at the bottom of the first page, another progress bar with a few words above it:
Gamer Magic: Level One ~ 24/1000 XP
So he had to level up just like a video game? He never had the chance to play them but knew the concept enough to know that meant he had to put in work, and this didn't really throw off his original intent of training to become the Magic Emperor. It if anything was a good way to make him be aware of his progress. However it was a bit of a sour thought when his mind pointed out to him how he saw nothing on mana on the first page, just notes on himself physically.
Charlotte broke his thought process by speaking, thankfully his attention was gained the first time so she didn't have to repeat herself.
"You leave in one hour, Gina will be waiting down by the square for you. Do not waste time." With that Charlotte left.
It was silent for all of two seconds before Sol spoke again. "So what spell did your Gamer Magic give you?"
"I don't have a spell. The page only mentions physical things and how good I am in those specific categories."
Sol had a blank look. "So it is lame?" She mostly asked herself.
"What kinds of physical things?" The Stone magic girl asked as she continued to heal Wilhelm's arm, turning her focus back to Wilhelm's wounded arm when he looked at her. That was the third time she looked away but Wilhelm didn't question it.
"My strength, or my speed." The teen answered. "I also can level up apparently."
"So really all you can do is work out?" Sol had an annoyed/disappointed look. "I mean good thing you already settled on doing that but damn I wanted a proper magic fight to establish my being better than you. This is a cheap victory right now."
Wilhelm gained a flat expression at Sol. "That's your issue?"
"I mean, yea."
"If I level up enough, I will smack your golem easily."
"Wrong!" Sol raised her arm and pointed at the ceiling as she left, leaving no room for debate.
The room become silent again for a short while, until after minute the Stone magic using girl spoke.
"Ummm... Do you still want me to heal you? Or do you want to wait till you get to the capital? There's better mages there." She asked him with nervousness and Wilhelm didn't know why that was.
Wilhelm looked back at his still open grimoire and uses his arm to point at the layout of his limbs. "Can you at least get my arms out of the orange?"
The girl began to look more worried as she looked at the book and then Wilhelm. "I can't see that... Everything in people's grimoires looks like random scribbles to everyone but the owner."
Wilhelm gained a blank look. "Sorry. I can tell you when they are out of it."
That was the last thing said for a while, the girl healing his arms in silence while he more or less lost himself in thought looking at the wall ahead of him, while once in a while checking the limb status. A while later his left arm was down into a darker yellow shade and that was good enough for Wilhelm before he let the girl know and she began to fix his other arm.
Partway through working on his right arm she stopped, and Wilhelm got confused before she explained herself.
"Sorry, I ran out of magic. Recovery magic is taxing."
"It's fine." Wilhelm honestly had no problem leaving it in light orange, given that half the time before he entered this kingdom he guaranteed his body was in some way always the red. "Thank you..." He realized he didn't know her name yet.
Thankfully she realized that and spoke. "My name is Galgaria."
"Thank you Galgaria."
At that, the Blue Rose turned red and stood up. "I have to..." She immediately left without finishing her sentence, leaving Wilhelm sitting there confused. Instead of staying confused he stood up and grabbed his windbreaker, which made him sigh looking at as he saw the rips and blood the jacket had gained from his altercation with the Diamond mage.
Brushing that problem off he put the jacket on and figured to just go wait for the Gina girl at the square, or at least somewhere close to it where he isn't completely open for another assassination attempt on himself to occur. Walking down the stairs he ran into Puli, who immediately talked to him.
"I was just about to ask for a moment of your time. We need a description of your would-be assassin if you happened to have seen her face."
"I have, I actually made sure to take note in case her appearance was needed." Wilhelm was glad he did actually put effort into memorizing details for the Diamond mage.
"Excellent! Liv should also hear this, let's go downstairs." Puli turned around while on the stairs to guide Wilhelm to her named squad mate.
Down in the main hall Liv was sitting at a table close to the fireplace, eating what was her breakfast. The girl Galgaria was talking to her, still red, and she stopped talking when she saw Puli and Wilhelm coming.
"He says he paid attention for just this scenario." Puli spoke to Liv, who nodded and pushed her plate away from herself and grabbed a nearby pad of paper and a pencil.
"So what did they look like?" Liv asked, ready to listen while eating.
Wilhelm waited until he sat down to begin describing the Diamond mage.
"Thank you for the description. We'll be sure to catch her. The guards along the wall have said so far that they haven't seen anyone try to go over, so she's still here somewhere. Until Gina is ready please don't go far."
"I was going to stay here until we were supposed to leave." Wilhelm responded. "I don't feel like getting stabbed again for a while." He said that with his usual neutral tone, and Galgaria let out a laugh, making the rest of the table look at her.
The Stone magic user gained embarrassment. "It was funny." She stated while looking down at the table.
Before anyone else could speak, two people entered the building, their conversation being loud enough to gain the attention of the table.
"Miss Charlotte let me go to the capital pleaaassse." Selena asked as she followed her captain.
"Selena I can't let anyone else leave while we have this mage loose in Kiten." Charlotte spoke as she crossed the hall to a table with different tools on it.
"She's wounded though so she shouldn't be that much of an issue." Selena pointed out
"Selena we can't underestimate her, that's what she did with the boy and look where it got her."
Selena opened her mouth to say something else, and Charlotte looked at her which made the Blue Rose not speak.
"We have to handle this and Gina can't take too much without wasting more mana, making it take longer for her to return." Charlotte reasoned.
"I'm okay with it." A third voice made everyone learn Gina was there.
She was a short girl, probably the shortest of the Blue Roses that Wilhelm has seen, and had a lean build that only made her seem smaller. Her hair was short, pink and curly. Her eyes were hidden behind circular glasses that were thick enough that it made her eyes unseeable past them. As if to also make herself seem smaller, she had on a puffy red sweater with her Blue Rose over it, the sweater going past her entire midsection. Under that she had on baggy purple pants, with a belt that held her grimoire in a pouch on her right side, and pink boots. Her entire outfit made Wilhelm think she was smaller than she looked, which was still small. If Wilhelm had to guess she was around four and a half feet tall. If he didn't know that grimoires were only gained after a person turned fifteen, Wilhelm would have mistaken her for at least five years younger than that.
"Are you sure?" The squad captain asked.
"Absolutely." Gina gave a big nod. "I don't have offensive stuff anyways Selena can be my backup."
Charlotte thought about it for a second. "Then it is okay. When you are ready go find the boy."
"He's right here." Liv spoke and made the other mages aware that there were people at that table, including Wilhelm.
"Wait, so that's the guy causing commotion?" Gina pointed at Wilhelm with disbelief. "He's so lanky, how did he fight an assassin?"
Wilhelm's previously blank face turned to irritation quickly. It's not that he was offended at being called lanky, she was correct on that by all means, but doubting he fought the Diamond mage was what got to him.
"That's not important right now. Just leave when you are ready. Less of a chance for that assassin to finish the job the better." Charlotte didn't leave room for debate, except turning to Selena. "What do you even need from the capital?"
"Ummmm... A magic tool." Selena answered cryptically.
"Alright." The captain accepted it. "Try not to take up too much time before you make your way back."
"We should be back tomorrow night!" Gina announced.
"How far away is the capital?" Wilhelm asked.
"If we were hiking it would take a good week or three." Selena answered that way, not sure if Wilhelm understood measurements in Clover yet.
Wilhelm didn't understand how Gina said she'd be back the next night if it took more than two weeks just to get there on foot. "...How?" Before anyone can answer his question he released the answer. "Magic?"
"My magic!" Gina beamed.
"Gina has spatial magic, so she can cross large distances easily." Selena explained.
"Because I'm the best!"
"Don't take detours this time Gina. Be back as soon as you can." Charlotte made sure to say before she left.
"In the meantime we'll handle things here." Puli said as she, Liv and Galgaria all got ready to follow. Before she left she looked at Wilhelm. "Hope you recover well." The other two said similar things, although Galgaria was red the whole time.
A minute later it was just Wilhelm, Selena and Gina, and the latter spoke.
"Let's get this party going!" She waved her hands and a wave of bright blue magic appeared in front of her, almost like a portal. "Hop in!"
Wilhelm looked at Selena. "We go through that?"
"Spatial magic can mostly let the users make portals between two places." The water magic user explained.
"My mana isn't enough to get there in one go though, so we are hopping through towns to get the capital. I don't wanna be tired when we are there." Gina added, while motioning to the portal. "Now let's go." She went through the portal first.
Wilhelm was the next to go, and did it carefully, putting a hand in the portal to feel it. He was then pulled through the portal by something grabbing his hand.
Going completely through the portal was an almost instant process, one that was like having a cold wind hit you for that moment. In the blink of an eye Wilhelm went from the main hall of the Blue Rose's base, to a whole different town's main square.
What had pulled him through the portal was Gina. "I don't wanna spend too much magic keeping portals open. No time to waste." She explained without him asking why yet. Selena followed through the portal at that moment, walking through it with ease as she was used to it. Once Selena was through it, Gina closed the portal and made a new one, and without a word went through it.
"So we are just doing this?" Wilhelm looked at Selena.
"Mhmm. We are already a few hours away from Kiten if we had walked." She went through the portal after finishing her sentence.
Wilhelm went through it and then spoke. "Wait that far?!"
"Yep, spatial magic is neat like that."
"My magic is neat." Gina beamed as she went through the process of more portals. "My reserves may not be as good as some of the royals, but I can still make decent distance before I have to recharge my mana reserves."
"Royals? As in the Magic Emperor?" Wilhelm asked as he followed through the next portal. This time they were in a clearing of a forest, and the sun beginning to rise was visible past the trees.
"Does he not know most of the magic knights are some level of royal or noble blood?" Gina looked at Selena.
"It slipped my mind." The Blue Rose admitted sheepishly. "When most of us are noble it doesn't seem all that important."
"You're royalty?" Wilhelm blinked as he looked at Selena.
"At least wherever he's from also has royalty if he's reacting like that." Gina said as she closed the last portal, taking a moment before making a new one. "I'm a commoner though, not a super cool royal like Selena."
"Why are most magic knights royal?" Wilhelm asked.
"Because Magic Knights are epic, and royals and noble blood having people have more magic than the rest of us usually." Gina explained as she grabbed a rock off the ground. "Although I heard that supposedly a peasant from the Forsaken realm got a four leaf clover on their grimoire the other day."
"Really?!" Selena went wide eyed.
"The Forsaken Realm?" Wilhelm kept asking questions.
"That's the outermost region of our kingdom." Gina answered. "It's called forsaken because it's seen as abandoned by mana as some of the royals say. People from there have a lot lower magic then people from the Common or Noble Realm."
"And I read that a Four leaf clover is really rare." Wilhelm at least knew that part, since it was also applicable to the country he was from.
"Right! Which is why it's so cool to hear that someone has one." Gina then looked at the grimoire Wilhelm was carrying. "What do you have?"
"Just a three leaf clover." Wilhelm held his grimoire up sense could see that.
"No, the magic. What's your magic?" Gina asked as she prepped a new portal.
"Gamer Magic."
Selena did a double take. "Wait, You know the magic now?"
"The first page filled in after I fought that Diamond Mage. Still no mana though, it's not even a spell."
"What does it say?"
"It's more of a record or tally board. I have numbers for different physical attributes. I leveled up and gained that page, so I want to assume leveling up more will get me more out of this book."
"That sounds boring," Gina said before she walked through the freshly made portal. The other two followed suit and ended up on the outside of a small town right next to the main gate, where Gina continued speaking. "Or annoying, the book not having anything until you get turned into a kebab by a random lady."
"I don't think an assassin is random." Selena responded, meanwhile Wilhelm just kept his usual blank/slightly annoyed look.
"Well yea, but the book really waited until after something happened that could have definitely used it, for it to do anything. That'd be annoying if you didn't get your Aqua bubble spell until after everyone got hurt several times over, or if I didn't get Distortion until after someone beat me up." Gina spoke as she prepared to make another portal.
"I still didn't really get a spell."
"Didn't even need it apparently." Gina shrugged. "Beat the assassin lady with nothing. Either she sucks or your lankiness is a disguise."
"Gina that's a little rude." Selena commented.
"His lankiness isn't bad." Gina pointed at Wilhelm. "Galgaria called him hot."
"What?" Both Wilhelm and Selena asked at the same time, although the latter had shock as she asked it.
The spatial magic user gained a worried look. "Oh wait, I think that was supposed to be a secret, or not said to him."
"When did this happen?!" Selena asked, her being more reactive to the revelation than Wilhelm, who so far looked 90% apathetic about it.
"I don't think I should speak anymore." Gina promptly made a portal and went through it.
"Gina!" Selena fast-walked through the portal, Wilhelm following after at a normal pace.
"I don't gossip." Gina stated as she closed the latest portal once everyone had came through. This time the trio were on a worn path across a plain, a town to their west off in the distance.
"Yes you do! What do you mean Galgaria called Wilhelm hot?!"
"Why are you even this wacky over it?" The small mage pointed at Selena. "Do you also find him hot?"
"What?! No!" The girl shook her arms.
"That's rude, he's right there." She pointed at the guy, who looked like he really didn't care about the conversation.
"You called him lanky, that's what was rude."
"You said he wasn't hot." Gina accused Selena.
"That's not what I meant!" The water mage was turning slightly red.
"I mean, no has a very set meaning."
"Shouldn't we be going through another portal?" Wilhelm asked.
"You're being too unreactive for what we are saying about you!" Gina pointed at Wilhelm. "Be dramatic." Wilhelm didn't respond, and kept his flat expression. His inaction actually annoyed Gina. "Stop trying to be cool!"
"I don't care about it. I just want to get to the capital for now." Wilhelm stated.
"Fine." Gina opened a portal but then closed it, making the other two give her an odd look.
"What was that for?" Wilhelm asked.
"I just realized we are taking him to the royal capital." Gina looked at Selena.
"Yes, and?" The mana-less teen didn't get the point.
"I don't want to take you to the capital like that." She pointed at his clothes. "You look homeless, and I can smell you from here and you smell like butt."
"Gina!" Selena reacted to the other Blue Rose's bluntness.
"What? It's not really good for him to go there like that. His clothes have rips and blood everywhere, and like I said, he smells like butt. Some of the royals are jerks and especially in the capital." Gina explained.
"There's still a better way to word it than saying he smells like butt."
"But you have to admit he smells like butt."
"Gina!"
The whole time this was happening, Wilhelm had an exasperated look, thinking it could be better to just start walking to the capital.
"We can still take him, but you have to admit it would be better to take a detour at a town up ahead and make him take a bath and have clothes that don't give off the expression of being a homeless guy."
"I am a homeless guy." Wilhelm stated.
"Well yea, you washed up here like three days ago."
"Before that. I was homeless back where I am from." He said flatly.
At that both of the girls went quiet for a moment. "Sorry." She spoke less enthusiastic and much quieter than she normally did. She didn't get a response from Wilhelm, who she was glad to see didn't seem angry about how unintentionally rude she realized she was.
Wilhelm sighed, feeling like unwanted pity was now coming his way. "It wouldn't hurt to not smell like butt." He attempted to make them move past it.
Thankfully for him they did just that.
"Right. We can stop in this town that's maybe three portals from here." Gina waved her arm and made a portal. "It has a really good bathhouse and also delicious dumplings we ladies can eat while waiting."
"We should really find him clothes before eating." Selena was quieter than earlier.
"We can do that before he bathes."
"I have no money," Wilhelm pointed out. "I can just wash these."
"You sure?" Gina asked. "I repeat that some of the royals are jerks."
"I don't care about their opinions." He said despite already agreeing to bathe. In truth he just didn't want these two to gain any idea of spending money of their own to get him new clothing. He was fine in what he had.
"Then we go to the town of dumplings!" Gina waved her arm in the motion of making a portal.
An hour and a half after the sun had fully risen Wilhelm had finished bathing, a new experience to him as the teen had never really done so before. Unless being in a rain storm counted as bathing, which to him might as well have since before now it was what he had at most. It was a soothing experience as the bathhouse had warm water which he had been told by the clerk had water magic used on it to make it help unwind muscles and give more relaxation. By the time he was done his clothes had been washed and dried, leaving them also clean smelling even if they still has the tears and stains of blood that couldn't be removed. Those didn't matter to Wilhelm however and he thanked the owner of the bathhouse before he was on his way.
Now he was sitting on a bench outside a small shop, with Gina who had taken to sitting on top of a chest high wall right next to the bench, while he ate a dumpling she had gotten him.
"Where did Selena go?" The teen asked as he ate.
"She said she'd meet us back here after she got something, but she didn't say where she went."
Silence filled the area as they didn't speak for a moment, before Gina looked at Wilhelm, moreso his back as the wall she was sitting on was behind him.
"I'm sorry for earlier." The girl apologized, her speaking making Wilhelm turn to face her.
"It's nothing. You have no reason to apologize." Wilhelm responded.
Gina shook her head. "Yes I do. I was also homeless for a bit and it sucked. You sound like you were like that for longer than I was, by far.
"It doesn't bother me." Wilhelm knew full well that he was lying when he said that. He hated that he was homeless for his whole life, and had no one. He did however have some truth to that lie as what Gina said truly didn't bother him.
"Don't care. I am still apologizing because I was being a butt."
"I can't say no then." Wilhelm went back to eating his dumpling.
"I give you no chance." Gina grinned.
They were silent for all of five seconds, before Gina spoke again.
"Do you like Selena?" The girl asked, dropping next to Wilhelm on the bench as she spoke.
"... She is a good person." The mana-less teen answered, after thinking for a second.
"Well duh, everyone knows Selena is like the queen of being amazing and kind. I meant do you like like her?"
"I consider her my friend." Wilhelm felt weird saying that, because he realized that it was actually the first time he had any care for another person and even considered them more than just another person.
His answer made Gina gain a flat expression. "Don't friend-zone Selena... then again that's probably the right thing to do. Miss Charlotte doesn't really like guys and there's like an unspoken rule about no relationships in the Blue Roses. So no time for romance."
"Wait..." Wilhelm looked at Gina. "You meant that?"
Gina looked at Wilhelm with disappointment. "What are you? Dense? That's the kind of like I meant, the romantical kind."
"I've never really cared for anyone before. I doubt that's a level I could get to, especially after three days of knowing the person."
"It's Selena, she's an exception and I know it."
"You think highly of Selena." Wilhelm observed.
"Everyone does. She's so sweet and nice all the time. In the half a year since she joined the Blue Roses I heard someone say she has shown so much potential and could possibly be stronger than Captain Charlotte in a few years."
"I don't exactly know what that means. I have no gauge for how strong your captain is."
"Oh she'd beat you up in like five seconds, and half of that is opening her grimoire." Gina stated and watched Wilhelm nod. "Everyone has faith in Selena and she is more supportive of us than anything. That trust is the only reason I think Captain Charlotte let her join us to get her magic thing."
"So Charlotte-" Wilhelm began but was cut off.
"Captain Charlotte." The Blue Rose corrected Wilhelm.
"So Captain Charlotte trusted you enough to take me to the capital on your own?"
"Not necessarily. She calls me a trouble child because I have been known to be easily distracted. I'm pretty sure at the last minute she would've sent Puli or Sol with us to cover me if Selena didn't come along. Selena has as much trust as Puli and Puli is the vice-captain."
"Not Sol? The girl who calls your captain sis?" Wilhelm honestly originally thought that Sol was one of the higher up members solely on that.
"SoL's trusted, but she's kinda brash. She's got drive to be the vice-captain if she had more thought."
"She's definitely brash." Wilhelm definitely agreed to that.
"Yea, I heard about you two arguing in front of most of the squad in the first five minutes of being in Kiten. No one really got her to lose composure and stuff in front of Captain Charlotte like that. Everyone said you were kinda rude too."
Wilhelm didn't respond to that. He may have been rude by how he put the words he said to Sol back then, but he does stand by that as she was annoying at that moment.
"Then you tried acting all Mister-Tough-Guy with Sol's golem, and then fought off an assassin, with no magic too. Some of the others actually now think you're some brooding badass tough guy, and some of them like Galgaria think you're hot too."
Wilhelm's face gained mild interest, solely another changed view do to his beating of the Diamond mage. "Why are you telling me this?"
The small girl shrugged. "I like gossip and that stuff. Plus don't you care that some of these girls think you're hot?"
"Not really."
"Boo. That's no fun."
At that moment they heard someone talk right outside their vision, it being Selena.
"Hey guys! Sorry it took me so long." The girl's face was read like she had rushed to get back to them.
"Where were you?" Gina asked her squad member.
"I was getting this." Selena held up a large leather belt with a pouch attached to it. "It felt off for Wilhelm to just be carrying his grimoire everywhere." At that she held it out to Wilhelm to accept.
Wilhelm didn't take it, and instead looked at Selena. "You didn't have to."
"No time for that!" Gina shouted as she took the belt and pushed it into Wilhelm's chest. "Time to get going through more portals!" She opened one as she spoke and quickly was through it.
"Everyone has a bag or something to keep their grimoire in." Selena said to Wilhelm. "I figured you'd be against me getting you one so I got the lowest priced one so you can't really try to talk me into taking it back. Plus..." She pointed to her waist, she where she had a much thinner belt with a pouch her grimoire was in. "I already have one so that would go to waste with me."
Wilhelm remembered how he called Selena a friend just a moment earlier and gained the smallest hint of a smile. "I guess I can't say no then."
Selena made a small motion of clapping while smiling. "That was easier than I thought."
Wilhelm gave no response but to put the belt around himself, over his shirt but under his windbreaker, with the pouch on the left side of his waist. He put his grimoire in it and stood to say something but Gina poked her head through the portal and spoke.
"Quit flirting and let's go!" The girl had a huge grin as she said that louder than necessary on purpose.
"Gina!" Selena's response was to simultaneously yell, turn red, and move towards Gina and push her head back through the portal, while going through it as well.
Wilhelm had no reaction, his expression not changing as he calmly followed them through the portal. On the other side of the portal he saw Selena shaking Gina by her shoulders.
"Don't joke about that kind of thing! People will get the wrong ideas!" Selena said while shaking her teammate.
"Roger roger!" The spatial magic user had a goofy smile as she was shook.
After their one big stop they didn't have any reasons to not keep going, so they were fast on their way to the capital, that is until Gina's mana reserves were getting low and they had to stop. They stopped in a small town and during the time it took for Gina's mana to build back up, Wilhelm took to the fields right outside the town.
"So you plan on working out?" Selena asked as she had joined Wilhelm, mostly so they don't lose him due to his lack of being detectable with mana.
"The book shows me stats based on strength and stamina. Those may be the most important so I plan on working out right now when we have time. I want to figure out what can increase my stats and what doesn't." Wilhelm explained as he took out his grimoire and left it open on the ground as he got ready to do push ups, leaving the book within his sight to be able to see any movement on the progress bar for any of the stats.
If you are training I will also." Selena didn't want to feel like the only person there not doing anything, especially since Gina would definitely make jokes if she came back and saw Selena just watching Wilhelm working out. With that thought in mind the Blue Rose had her grimoire open to a page of a spell she was working on, and moved down the field to avoid accidentally getting Wilhelm caught up in the spell.
The mana-less teen kept his eyes on his grimoire and began doing push ups, and stopped after doing the first one successfully as his book has text appear on the line that had previously said he had leveled up.
1 XP
He hadn't seen the progress bar of any stats go up, but he definitely gained XP for doing a single push up, and it was only a single point. However that was just for a single push up. Right now he had 25 out of 1000 points to get to level two. If he got a single point for every push up, sit up, or stretch/workout of any kind, that means he could very well get close to leveling up every two or so days if he put in the work. That thought made him decide to definitely work out as often as he could. As well as leveling up he'd also increase his stats, which was just good things stacked on top of good things.
Getting excited at the prospect of increasing his stats and level up, the teen got back to working out.
An hour later Gina came out to the field to find Selena sitting on the grass, while Wilhelm was lying down on his back several feet away.
"Ya'know... it takes away from a bath and washing your clothes when you decide to afterwards get all sweaty and lie in the dirt." Gina said as she stood over the teen.
"I learned how to gain XP. So I wanted to earn some." He took a breath as he stayed on the ground.
"Whatever." She didn't question it further. "Aye Selena I'm ready to make more portals!" She waited until both people started to get up to open a portal. "We should be at the capital real soon. No more stops or distractions!" She went through the portal.
"Do you know who even is supposed to be who I am dropped off to?" Wilhelm asked at that point, having not thought of it prior to that.
Selena shook her head. "I don't know but Gina should actually know." With that she went through the portal, Wilhelm following suit. Upon getting to the other side Selena repeated the question. "Gina, who are we escorting Wilhelm to?"
"I dunno." Gina shrugged. "Captain Charlotte said something about one of the houses and that they'd have someone at the coliseum."
"Were you not listening again?" Selena already knew the answer before asking.
The pink haired Blue Rose held her hand to her chest in a overdramatic fashion. "That is so rude to imply that I wasn't listening and also accurate. Don't worry I at least know we are taking him to the coliseum."
"Why a coliseum?" Wilhelm immediately assumed that they'd make him do some sort of trial or threw him at a lion.
"Would it be wrong for me to say no clue again?" Gina asked as she opened a portal. She gave a grin to the tired expressions of the other two. "Don't worry, I know that's them wanting to test your magic."
"I don't have magic." Wilhelm deadpanned.
"Yes you do. The book has something going on. You have no mana. Plus I think they may not actually know the thing about your magic being what it is yet. They probably haven't gotten that info, just that you got attacked and are targeted, and that Charlotte doesn't want that getting in the way of stuff we have going on."
"After the coliseum, Wilhelm could you wait there in case it takes me a while to get the magic artifact?" Selena asked as they went through another portal.
"So you can say goodbye?" Gina asked.
"No, well yes, but because I was going to give it to Wilhelm." Selena admitted.
Wilhelm immediately shook his head. "I can't accept it. Sorry but at this point I will owe you too much."
Selena shook her head. "No, you don't owe me anything. I came to get the artifact because it belongs to my family and we have it there in the capital and I know it should be in your hands. You'd be able to make the most use of it."
At that point Wilhelm gained confusion. "Why would my being mana-less allow me to use a magic object better than a person who actually has mana?"
"I wanted to surprise you with it, so can I explain it once I get the thing?" Selena gained a sheepish expression at wanting to drop the subject for the moment.
Wilhelm toon a second to think and sighed. "I really can't say no to you effectively could I?"
"Nope!" Selena gained a smile while making a small clap of her hands.
During the exchange between the other two, Gina has a grin believing full well she knew the answers to particular questions she asked both of the other two.
In the capital the trip split once they got there, Selena going to where her family resided while Gina guided Wilhelm through the streets to the coliseum without teleporting.
Wilhelm was honestly blown away by the capital. Too use to the drab gray city he once lived in before he drowned, that it felt like whiplash to see a stunning city built onto a mountain. The city went all the way to the top of this mountain, with the castle where the three royal houses that ruled the kingdom resided. Farther down the mountain towns were placed on it and the view went far past this mountain, giving view to a sight of the towns in the Noble Realm of Clover.
Once at the coliseum he noted that indeed it was just like a coliseum from his world, making him wonder exactly how many similarities the worlds held to each other. When they entered through a main entrance, into the main area of the building, Gina and Wilhelm saw two people, who looked like they had been using their magic on each other.
The first person was a tall man with purple eyes and long, straight vermillion hair that neatly combed to the back while leaving his long fringe combed to the left in a wavy hairstyle. He had notable red markings around his eyes, as well as a diamond-shaped mark of similar color on the center of his forehead. The man's attire consisted of a white tunic which is covered by a dark blue shirt with long sleeves and high collar. The shirt was decorated with gold-colored fabric with vertical stripes design on its edges, collars, and along the sleeves. He wore a purple sash around his waist keeping the shirt together. He also had white trousers and black high boots with similar design as his shirt. On top of all that attire, he had a long red cape, coupled with what Wilhelm assumed to be the robe of the magic knight squad he was in This robe was as red as his cape and only covered his torso like how the Blue Rose's robe did for them.
The man gave off a air of calm regality, even just standing there in an empty coliseum save for the other three people there. He had been the one to notice Wilhelm and Gina and held up his hand to indicate to the other, who had their back to the newcomers, to stop as to see what was going on.
"Are you the foreigner I am expecting?" The man asked as he looked directly at Wilhelm, his clothing making it clear that the teen was the foreigner.
"I am." The foreign teen nodded.
"I was not expecting you so soon, we were in the middle of an exercise and I apologize for the inconvenience." The man spoke in a respectful tone that honestly made Wilhelm like him off the bat. "I am Fuegoleon Vermilion, and this is Mimosa Vermilion."
At that the other person actually turned around and Wilhelm couldn't explain it, but for a second his breathing stopped.
Mimosa was a girl his age with shining eyes that flowed between yellow and slight green. She had long, wavy vermilion hair with bangs on her forehead. Her attire came across to Wilhelm as fancy, or upper class at the least, which consisted of a puffy cream-colored sweater with long sleeves, white puffy short pants, and a brown corset. Below the corset, she also wore another lighter brown-colored piece of fabric that had frilly edges. The corset was tied at the front with strings. Her footwear consisted of a pair of boots that are tightly fit her legs and extends above her knees. They were light-colored and have a split at the top in which are kept together by strings. The boots also had frilly edges below the collars. On top of all of those, Mimosa also wore a dark red mantle, which has a white lining made of similar material as the rest of the mantle.
It wasn't just Wilhelm who had the odd reaction, as almost unnoticeably Mimosa also stopped for a second, giving Wilhelm a bewildered look before giving pure confusion at why she reacted that way. The other two, Gina and Fuegoleon, did not notice this odd exchange as how quickly it happened, even if the moment felt much longer to Wilhelm and Mimosa. They felt some sort of familiarity even if they knew this was the first time they had ever seen each other.
"Well my job is done! Buh-bye Wilhelm!" Gina had smacked his back before stepping through a portal she made while talking.
"My name is Wilhelm." The teen suddenly felt awkward for the first time ever, that oddness from seeing the Mimosa girl threw him off.
"I have heard about your encounters with Diamond mages, Miss Charlotte having mentioned that you had managed yourself despite no mana," Fuegoleon spoke as he approached Wilhelm. "Then she said your grimoire had become active, but still no mana. The Wizard King asked me to keep an eye on you and I believe I should also help you improve with whatever your grimoire has given you. Mimosa, while here for her own evaluation, is also here to finish healing you from what injuries you have received handling the Diamond mages."
Wilhelm took in the information and nodded as he grabbed his grimoire from the pouch. Having opened it to show Fuegoleon, his nervousness making him forget all about the fact that o lay he could decipher the contents. "I have something called Gamer magic, and so far it only tells me of my physical condition and different physical skills with scores for them."
Fuegoleon nodded and cupped his chin. "Then I guess making you train your body is what I will help with. While most mages in Clover do not necessarily train their body, I at least know methods to teach you to help you increase your scores. Do you still have any injuries?"
"My arms are still in some bad shape." Wilhelm admitted.
"I can fix them." Mimosa offered, speaking for the first time. Her voice was sweet and made the already awkward Wilhelm feel like that feeling had doubled. She raised her arms and her grimoire, giving off a green glow, opened to a page. "Plant Recovery Magic: Dream Healing Flower Basket."
Vines and flowers enveloped Wilhelm and gave off a variety of small glowing lights. The vines formed a giant basket holding Wilhelm and the flowers inside itself. Wilhelm felt not just his arms but his whole body as well healing, all his ignored scrapes and cuts being being alongside his arms. He gave a sigh of relief as the loss of the injuries made him realize how he was in a slight amount of pain the whole time and hadn't noticed till then. Once Mimosa stopped holding the spell, the petals and vines dissipated, what didn't shrink out of existence flowing into the wind before they did as well.
As the spell ended, Fuegoleon spoke again. "Now that you are back to your full strength, we shall raise the limits on what is considered your full strength. Your training begins now!"
A/N: At the end of every chapter, or beginning of someone says that may work better, I shall leave Wilhelm's stats and level, as to keep everyone aware of his progress.
Gamer Magic: Level One ~ 246/1000 XP
Strength: 4
Speed: 3
Agility: 3
Stamina: 4
Endurance: 7
Stealth: 5
A/N: Sorry this is a few days late. Was majorly distracted and I'll try to work on chapter five quicker to have it out on the regular schedule. Originally I wanted this chapter to go through to what the ending of chapter five is, but I gained too many ideas and such to fit it, and deadass that may be the end of chapter six at this point.
I expect no one to know what magical artifact Selena's family has that she is giving to Wilhelm. It's canon of course and there are enough hints that a lucky guess can pin the thing potentially, but I still expect no one to get it. For a fun fact, this magic item is the main specific reason I moved Wilhelm from Kiten to the capital.
I called it the coliseum because I think it's a coliseum, looks like one, but that's the place where magic knight selections takes place, fun fact. There is a specific reason I made them be at that place and if you guys read chapter two carefully you'll see exactly why I placed them there.
Mimosa and Wilhelm definitely had a weird unspoken moment. Will I explain why it what it was about? No, not right now. I mean on Discord someone knows but he's the guy I bounce ideas off of so I know if I sound stupid or not (juries still not completely out on that lmao). However it's clear that something is going on and yea that's all I am gonna say at this point.
Also, I know Mimosa joins the Golden Dawn, and doesn't want to get by on the Vermillion name. I'll explain what her evaluation was in the next chapter, and just to clear it up before that, it wasn't to join the Crimson Lions.
The only review for chapter three at this point is from a dude I know on Discord, so the review bit here is blank for the chapter.
As I say at the bottom of every chapter, I have a discord server with the link in my Bio.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, let me know how it was and have a good day!