Stage Two: Begin!

Lucas was stunned when he heard that the magic he used was not normal. "Isn't it just fire and ice magic? What is so special about it?", he wondered. "In time, you will learn, Luca. When you leave, we will give you two names. We want you to search for them, and you will learn how to control your magic properly", said Martha. Lucas nodded his head.

"I want to take some rest before the second stage of the test', he said. Martha nodded her head and motioned everyone to leave the room. Before she left, she placed a kiss on his forehead. "Don't strain yourself too much", she said in a caring tone. After she left, Lucas wanted to look at the screen properly. It was still hovering in front of him.

[Status]

[Name: Lucas Heart]

[HP: 100/100]

[MP: 100/100]

[Level: 1]

[Job: None]

[Title: None]

[EXP: 0/100]

[System Level: 1/10]

[Strength: 20]

[Stamina: 15]

[Agility: 25]

[Perception: 18]

[Magic: 10]

[Stat points to be used: 5]

"So among my status, magic is the lowest. I also have high agility even without any beast gear. What are these HP and MP?", he thought. To clear his doubts, a screen popped up in front of him, explaining each term.

[HP - Health Points. This is the amount of health you have. Once it hits zero, you will die. Can be increased]

[MP - Mana Points. This indicates the amount of mana you can hold. Can be increased]

[EXP - Experience Points. Gather experience points to move to the next level. Each level up grants you with 1 stat point]

[Stat Point - These points are used to increase your Strength, Stamina, Agility, Perception, or Magic]

"So I have high Agility but low Magic. That kind of sucks a bit. But I can upgrade them using these so-called Stat Points. Right now, I have five. Let me increase my Strength. I think I will need it very badly in the second round", he thought as he put all five of his stat points into strength, bringing it to twenty-five.

"So how do I close this thing? Wait, what is that red dot in the top corner?", he thought. As soon as he thought, the red dot expanded, showing him the contents inside.

[Daily Task Updated]

[Do 100 push-ups 0/100

Do 100 sit-ups 0/100

Do 100 pull-ups 0/100

Run for 3 Km 0/3 Km

Meditate for 1 Hr 0/1 Hr]

[Rewards - +3 Strength, +3 Agility, +2 Perception, +2 Stamina]

"You show this now? If I had known this before, I would have put those stat points in Magic, you dumb system", he cursed. "Oh well, whatever. It's no use crying over spilled milk", he consoled himself. He got off his bed and began to do the daily task. "I've been doing these for a long time. Except that the numbers have been doubled", he muttered.

Three hours had passed and Lucas came out of the shower. He had finished the daily task that the system had given him. He smiled as he put on a blue tee and a pair of black jeans. The armor had been damaged to the extent of no repair, so he will have to fight this stage with no armor. He came out of his room and walked towards the arena.

With his increase in strength, perception, and agility, he wanted to test out what those numbers meant. As he was reaching the arena, he heard a girl's voice from behind him. "Oh, look. The Eunuch Mage isn't dead. Well, good luck on passing this round", she sneered. Lucas didn't need to turn around to know who that voice belonged to.

"Grace, I heard that a wealthy noble wanted to marry you", he turned around and walked towards her. "Let's hope that he doesn't find out about all your rodeos", he chuckled. Grace's face flushed red when she heard him mention that. She was about to make a scene when she heard her father call her. She snorted and turned around.

Lucas walked towards the tunnel leading to the arena and waited in there. After a few minutes, there was a buzz and the iron black gate in front of him opened up. He stepped onto the arena, the place where he had a dance with death yesterday. "At least, it isn't beasts today", he smiled as he saw Kate and Sam standing opposite to him.

"Hope you are all healed up, little brother. It would be a shame if I can't fight you at your full strength", said Sam. Kate smacked his head. "He just came out of the medical room and has faced certain doom. You want him to fight you at full strength?", she said. Sam was massaging the back of his head, smiling cheekily. Lucas saw the grin on both of their faces and knew they wanted to fight him. "They're itching to fight me", he thought. The system then came with a notification.

[Quest Updated]

[Defend or Defeat the pair in front of you]

[Defend/ Defeat 0/2]

[Rewards - EXP +500, Increase all stats by 2]

"Oh, seems like this 'system' or whatever this is, wants me to do this too? But how did it know I was going to fight? Maybe it is connected with my senses?", he began to wonder. But this wasn't the time for that. The minute the notification came up, the bell rang, signaling the beginning of the fight.

Kate moved towards him. A huge ball of fire was coming towards him. He couldn't sidestep it so he ran to the side, only to be blasted by an icicle to his stomach. The icicle was flat instead of sharp, pushing him back into Kate's arms. She wrapped her arms around his waist and lifted him off the floor. She did a suplex, ramming Lucas's head into the arena.

Lucas got up from the ground, touching the place where his head was slammed. "And here I thought you guys would go easy on me", he pouted. Sam came forward and took a fighting stance. "In the outside world, there are honorable warriors. And some people hit you the moment you are down. You cannot show weakness, for that will be your downfall", he said as he threw a punch towards Lucas's face.

Lucas saw the punch and turned his head, and Sam's fist grazed past his cheek. Just as he turned around, He saw Kate's leg coming towards his stomach. "And we play both honorable and dirty. the reason, there are very less honorable warriors and more despicable people out there", said Kate as she kicked his stomach.

Sam quickly slid his arms underneath his arms, and slid it to the back of his neck, performing a lock. "This is called the Master Lock", he said to Lucas. Lucas tried to break out, but the more he tried, the more he felt a strain on his neck. Kate punched into his gut repeatedly, making him feel pain. "It seems like the increase in the strength points really did help. Without that, I would have been mashed potatoes here", he thought.

After a few more pummels, Kate stopped and Sam released him from the hold. The moment he was released, Lucas quickly held the head of Sam, and using his shoulder, threw him to the floor. Kate was about to kick him when he held her leg in his hands, blocking her attack.

He twisted her leg, rolling on the floor. He was about to twist it more when he felt a chill from his back. He instantly let go and rolled away, and saw icicles slammed into the place he was at. He looked at Sam and saw him smiling wide. "Seems like my brother has woken up", he said, extending his hand to Kate.

"If it's going to be this hard to defeat them, I wonder how I will fare against Mom and Dad. They are truly terrifying", he gulped at the thought of that. Icicles came flying towards him and he took out his dual blades. "How do I activate my aura? Master said that aura is innate while mana is something which we absorb from nature. If it is innate..", he began to think hard.

He tried to get the feeling he felt while fighting the beasts. But he couldn't quite find it. His increased perception allowed him to dodge the incoming icicles and he also felt Kate coming in for some close attacks which he dodged. As he couldn't grasp the feeling, he knew that keeping his eyes close was vain. He opened them again and slashed the icicles that were coming towards him.

He dodged them swiftly and smoke began to form in front of him. Just as he was about to make his move, a huge fireball came into his view. Lucas saw a small gap underneath the fireball and slid underneath. He stood up and saw both of them grinning widely. "That's how you do it, Lucas. Show me. Show me how much you can improve in this fight", said both of them.

He knew that this was going to be a long fight. "If the second round commences right after a small break of the first round, I will be out of stamina. My stamina points aren't a lot, I think. Thus, it's better if I finish this quickly", he thought. "It's time to get serious. Let the games begin", said Lucas with a smile.