Bell Cranel

I Strength 0

I Endurance 0

I Dexterity 0

I Agility 0

I Magic 0

Skills

Heroic Desire (Increased growth as long as one aims to be a true hero.)

Both were shocked as this skill appeared. "Never reveal that skill to anyone. People would kill to have it," Zeus declared gravely.

After a long conversation about his parents, Zeus told Bell the history behind the Hera and Zeus familia defeat. After Bell's parent's death, Zeus decided to raise their son to honour them. Bell was overcome with emotion and wept as he embraced his grandfather.

"All of your hard work will start paying off when you train from now on, but you have the advantage of not being a total weakling when starting. Practice is much slower than monster fighting, but you still have 3 years before I'm allowing you to go to Orario," said Zeus.

"Yes Grandpa," Bell replied with a smile. 'The same time as Hestia will descend,' he thought to himself.

Alton left after Bell's 13th birthday and said that there was nothing much left that he could teach him. Bell's stats were high enough to level up if he performed a great feat, and the main thing he needed was experience and his own fighting style. Zeus refused to call in another favour to Hermes for a more advanced trainer, so instead, he persistently pestered his grandfather for books on magic.

Bell Cranel

F Strength 348

H Endurance 197

E Dexterity 470

D Agility 593

I Magic 0

Skills

Heroic Desire

"You don't have a spell. What could you possibly need the books for?" questioned Zeus.

"In case I do get magic!" Bell replied passionately.

Zeus looked like he wanted to argue before a light suddenly went on in his brain. "You've convinced me, boy. Watch the farm for a week, and you'll get your books," he declared with an enigmatic smile.

A week later, Zeus returned with over 30 beginner to advanced books on learning magic, mana tapping and training, meditation, and how to increase the power of the mind.

The books meant Zeus could return to devoting his time to farming, made most enjoyable by the pleasures of using hemp. The boy was useless anyway, with his head in the clouds, dreaming of adventuring.

His plan worked perfectly, as Bell stopped bothering him and spent all of his time training, reading and going through exercises for magic and the mind. 'What a waste of time, but oh well, at least he's reading. His mom would be happy about that,' Zeus thought.

Three months before his 14th birthday, Bell achieved a breakthrough with his magic studies. He had learned to detect and draw upon his mana earlier in the year, even swirl it around. He learned to meditate, at least for short periods, although he was nowhere near the hours that the books recommended for advanced magic practitioners. One even recommended 24 hours as a good goal to reach. His limit was about 30 minutes.

The humans in the books usually unlocked magic through lifelong study and meditation, which was time he didn't have and only put them on the same level as an average elf with some training. What interested him was the book on paladins: warriors that used holy magic to strike down their foes.

Paladins unlocked their magic through a series of trials that slowly released their holy power. Each completed trial was like opening another locked door. It took months of meditation, but he was able to access the first trial, defeating his inner demon. The demon was all of his fear combined into one bovine monster. The minotaur represents the weakness, helplessness, and pain of his first life.

Fighting the minotaur involved using all of his acquired combat skills and mental resilience. It was the same monster that had killed him, in the very same dead-end where he had died. He was assaulted immediately and used all of his agility to dodge the attack and then charge the beast. Luckily the weapons in this fight did not fail him. Of course, none of it was real; it was all mental. It was designed to be a challenging trial, not an unbeatable one.

The first thing he did before the beast recovered was to make his way around it so that he was no longer trapped in a dead end. He had a pretty good understanding of the floor's layout, considering all of the fleeing that he had done. He used this knowledge to attack the minotaur from different directions.

It was a grueling game of cat and mouse, but the mouse was winning at every step. The cat had no strategy, only brute strength and rage. The mouse was calm and used the cat's increasing frustration to almost comically slam into walls, damaging itself and allowing the mouse to get free strikes in. Still, considering the difference between a beginner adventurer and a level 2 creature from the middle floors, it took nearly an hour to whittle away at its health, even with the self-inflicted slamming into walls.

Zeus waved his hand in front of Bell's face and snapped his fingers.

'Shit, I might have overdone it with the hotboxing.'

Since Bell was nearly of age, it was the perfect time to be introduced to his mysterious cannabis plants. He convinced the boy that the smoking sauna needed some cleaning. It was, considering he had never done it before, and everything was stained from smoke and resin.

He made sure the door was sealed properly and went to town on his water pipe. The room was soon filled with clouds of joyful magic. Bell was doing a fantastic job with cleaning until he got too giggly to continue. He probably should have finished the session when Bell was on the floor laughing and rolling around like a log, but it was funny as shit.

Thankfully the trance was only temporary and lasted maybe 5 minutes. The boy then leapt up like a spring laughing about conquering a minotaur and unlocking his magic. He described the grueling battle in extreme detail, explaining the harrowing tale of being cornered on the 5th floor and dying. "This time, I leaped around like a frog and performed sneak attacks around corners and backstabs after a failed charge, just like a rogue," he exclaimed in excitement.

"Ah yes, your trip was truly a magical journey," Zeus declared. To experience such a thing in a mere five minutes spoke both to the potency of his wonderful flowers and the brilliance of youth. Zeus could fill the sauna until nothing was visible, as he did on many occasions, and never had anything close to the epic adventure that his grandson experienced. Perhaps it was because he was a god, but no. He remembered his first experience like it was yesterday.

The breakthrough in magic was a complete accident. He couldn't focus that day. He wanted so badly to unlock magic to maximize his potential as an adventure and hero. Wasting an entire stat and not being able to utilize mana effectively was unacceptable in Bell's eyes. In his frustration, he was unconsciously churning his mana into a maelstrom.

Once he was able to access and mold it, mana would circulate throughout his nervous system. Imperceptibly, over time, his mana pathways expanded to encompass the majority of his body. The maelstrom gave his body the final push to expand the mana from his core to everywhere in his body.

That was the final push needed to unlock his first magical ability, even if it wasn't a spell. It was body enhancement magic. The mana expanded fully throughout his system, reaching every inch of his body. He could concentrate it on areas to increase durability and unleash faster, more powerful attacks if concentrated on his limbs.

Concentrating his mana into his eyes slowed his perception of time. It would be tremendously helpful in tricky situations where a mistake could mean death and against intelligent creatures. Movement while working with his mana previously resulted in injury. He didn't want to know what would have happened if he tried with his eyes.

He had never attempted to control his mana like a whirlpool rather than a flowing stream. It was for the best since erratically circulating mana without the space to expand was a recipe for disaster, and likely death number two. The risk was pretty low simply due to the human race's near-zero proficiency with magic. To even develop his mana core and expand it throughout his body he bastardized the few simple books on human magic in combination with elvish exercises.

Zeus was flabbergasted when Bell demonstrated his acquired magic. The flower was too powerful to be spread. He must keep the information close to his chest, for if his lovelies got too popular, the town would be overrun by adventurers sent on quests to both study and sample the product. They might never make it back due to the great hunger it imparted. It was for the best.

Bell trained his magic whenever he was training. Every movement was empowered by his mana until his muscles were close to giving out or he was near mind down. Empowering parts of the body with mana put them under far more strain than normal.

When he did get too exhausted to move, he had another effective magic exercise, but if it's all he did, he wouldn't get any combat practice in. Slowing his perception of time took a lot of mana and quickly drained the mind. The more mana put in, the slower his perception got. It could drain his mana in seconds, although it felt like minutes.

Bell Cranel

E Strength 417

G Endurance 233

D Dexterity 543

C Agility 632

G Magic 274

Skills

Heroic Desire

Mana Enhanced

Concentrating mana on an area of the body increases durability, speed, and power for limbs. Concentrating mana in the eyes slows the perception of time. Uses a large amount of mana and drains the mind quickly.