Lord of Charm

"Let's measure your affinities again."

Alice took out two orbs and handed them to Gale. He already knew the process; he poured his fire mana into the red one and his earth mana into the brown one.

"Earth remains unchanged with A-52."

She waited for the fire affinity to stabilize and clapped excitedly.

"YES! It's SS-30! That's a huge boost!"

"Isn't it only 40 points?"

Gale said disappointedly.

"Are you stupid?! The difference between each rank is far more! Even if you consumed 3 seventh-grade potions to improve your affinity, you could improve it only to S-100 and the effects would stop there. Now, you can improve it to SS-45 with the help of potions."

She explained to him why it was a big deal and passed her excitement to Gale. She handed him 6 bottles.

"Here are the promised potions. Those are seventh-grade affinity boosters. Three for fire affinity and three for earth affinity. Save them for now in your magic bag, and we can practice so you can adjust to your new body and powers."

They sparred for 3 hours until Alice decided it was enough and sent him back.

"Ok, it's enough. I also have things to do. Tomorrow Zach will come to your apartment again to take you to your classes, good luck in your fights."

Gale went back to his apartment and thought of everything that happened to him that day. He had to admit that the benefits of his last strengthening were huge. He even FELT smarter after it. He could notice easily better ways to use his spells and improve their power and control.

In those three hours of training with Alice he improved at a scary rate, which made him understand how Lena became proficient enough with her magic to defeat older mages despite being a mage for only a year and a half. If he fought in the intermediate bracket, he'd probably lose somewhere in the quarterfinals.

"Oh crap, I forgot to ask her about the records!"

He thought to himself as soon as he got back to his apartment and ordered dinner. He ate what he could, took a shower, and went to sleep.

The next morning, he heard knocks on his door again. Opening the door, he found Zach waiting for him.

"Good morning Gale, it's time for classes. Professor Alice told me to show you around today."

They went together to the same campus they visited yesterday and Zach explained about the buildings.

"As you can see, each building has a different shape. The squared building we visited yesterday mainly includes meeting rooms, training rooms, and research rooms for the staff. Students only go there if they participate in research with a professor, or when they need to meet one like you did yesterday."

Gale nodded to express he understood, and the tour continued.

"This is the round building; it's mainly used for combat classes. It has a lot of inscriptions everywhere so even advanced mages can fight there freely in certain areas. You will go there for human combat classes, spells practicing, and beasts combat classes."

"The triangle building is the smallest and other than the first floor, also the emptiest. It's the building where we learn history, politics, and theoretical knowledge about magic and beasts."

Gale looked and saw many people go in and out of that building, making him curious.

"The first floor seems popular. What can you find there?"

"Two things. One is a dining room in case you don't want to go back to your apartment to have a meal, or if you want to eat with new friends. The other is the exchange office. You can use it to exchange gold, materials, potions, and bodies of beasts you've hunted."

"But why don't people learn theoretical knowledge and other things?"

"Simple, our academy only rewards power. Since there is no incentive to know those things, not many people bother to learn them. Now the rectangle building is the last one, the one for second professions. Although some of them are weak, I advise you not to bully them since you always need their service."

Gale agreed and Zach finished his explanation.

"That's it for today. You have a class in human combat now in the round building, room 0013. The first two numbers indicate the floor, and the last two indicate the room number on that floor. To know your future classes, just ask Alessa. You can also get a wristband version of it in the exchange office."

They separated and Gale went to his class. He entered the round building and saw the first classroom was 0001. He continued walking down the hall until he found classroom number 0013.

He entered the class and found out he was late due to the tour Zach gave him on campus. Upon entering, he found everyone standing in a large circle with the teacher in the middle of it, and everyone turned to see the newcomer.

"Hello, professor. I'm Gale Stormborn, I'm new to the academy."

"Take a spot in the circle. I'm Mercury, you don't need to use honorifics when addressing me."

His height was average at 175, but his robust body was completely ripped. He was wearing a tight tracksuit and was barefoot.

"Hey, are you the one who got the fourth rank? How did you get it? I never heard you challenged Neriya for it."

"I was just given it as soon as I enrolled. I didn't challenge anybody yet."

He answered the truth which only made the one asking angrier.

"I see. I, Mars Truman, challenge you today."

Gale didn't expect it to be challenged as soon as he entered the door. Curious, he wanted to know his first opponent's rank.

"What's your rank?"

"Now I'm ranked 101st."

He said with an irritated voice, and Gale understood his anger. He lost his apartment due to Gale's passing him in rank and kicking him out of the top 100. However, Gale found him a little bit stupid. Did he think the academy gave the fourth rank to someone who would lose to the weakest person in the previous top 100?