Hey loser! Get the fuck up from the ground and move, you twat!
Chuck's eyes slowly fluttered open with a weird but warm sensation tingling all over his body.
"What…what the hell happened? How did I end up sleeping outside on this hard ground?" Chuck asked in a discombobulated tone.
"Hey are you gonna get up or what. You know, beating the shit out of you will be a good way to start my day," a student said. "You know what, I think a little bit of warm up will be good"
The student clasped his palms together and started separating them slowly. Little sparks started forming between his palms, and they grew larger and larger the more he separated his hands.
"How about a little shock therapy," the student grinned. "Maybe this'll make you a little bit less useless"
The student thrusted his hands forward and directed the mini electric bolt towards Chuck. Already accepting that his day would begin with the usual pain and torment, Chuck braced himself while using his hands to protect his head.
He winced in anticipation of the pain that was going to overwhelm his body, but the pain never came. The only shock that he experienced was the surprise of the sound of electrical sparks toasting the floor beside him. Chuck slowly lifted his head up, trying to see if the student really decided to show him mercy.
Of course this was not the case. When Chuck raised his head, his gaze was met with another student, slightly taller and broader than the one trying to turn him into a living lightning bolt.
It turns out that he redirected the bolt heading for Chuck with his own lightning. The fact that he was able to do it so effortlessly meant that he was a higher level mage compared to them.
"Isn't it funny that a weak student is bullying someone else? Or would you like a taste of your own medicine?" the boy asked as the gentle breeze swayed his dirty blonde hair back and forth.
"Alright I'll back off. But you better watch your back, you neophyte staged waste," the bully said as he carefully backed away.
When he was finally out of sight, Chuck could finally breathe properly. But he couldn't help but wonder why someone would want to help his sorry ass.
"Maybe not everybody is the same," Chuck thought.
The unfamiliar student that helped Chuck stared at him like was looking at a helpless dog. Chuck, still on the ground, just stared at his helper with an awkward silence, until it was finally broken.
"I'm Erik. And you don't need to tell me your name. I kinda heard that douche."
"But I gotta ask you. Why were you sleeping on the ground? Did your room throw you out or something?" Erik said, almost mocking him.
"Uhm. I don't know. I guess sleep walking is part of my existence now. Thanks by the way, for helping me out. You're the first person to ever do so," Chuck replied with a confused tone.
"No worries. Just make sure you steer clear of these guys. I'm heading to the cafeteria. I'll see you there."
And with that, Erik started heading the opposite direction, down the hallway. Chuck, still feeling a weird sensation all over his body, took his crutches from the ground and started heading towards his dorm.
–
Inside his dorm room which wasn't very spacious, but was comfortable enough for him, he sat down on his bed thinking very hard about what just happened. First he was sleeping peacefully in his room, then he woke up outside in the open.
"Man, what is going on with me? I feel like I'm losing my mind right now. Wait a minute, how did I even end up outside to begin with?"
And then at that moment, Chuck started recollecting what happened the previous night. He started putting two and two together, till it dawned on him. He finally remembered what happened to him. The loud noise that seemed like the sound barrier was broken, the golden shimmer that could be seen, and the energy he felt when it was suddenly absorbed into his body.
"What the hell was that energy? It felt like pure mana itself. It felt almost… godly. Whatever that was, I need to do proper research about it. But isn't mana supposed to be an invisible energy"? Chuck thought out loudly.
His mind was racing with questions upon question, trying to understand what happened to him.
Then he remembered another important detail about what happened that night. Right before he lost consciousness. He remembered a screen-like image pop up in his line of view, but he couldn't quite recall what was written on the screen.
"Ohh God. Maybe I'm finally losing it"
Chuck thought hard and hard, trying to remember what exactly the screen looked like, and then…
All of a sudden, in front of his face a screen appeared again. It hovered and changed its position, based on the trajectory of Chuck's view.
When he saw this, his heart almost skipped a beat as he fell from his bed in shock. He stared at the screen with an intriguing expression, trying to comprehend what in the world was going on.
What confused him the most was the writing on the translucent screen. The languages written were not in any alphabets that he knew, but somehow, he still understood every single text written.
/Name>> Chuck Nectar/
/Race>> human/
/Class>> mage/
/Stage>> neophyte/
/HP>> 10/10/
/level>> error. User is too weak to be given a required level/
/Exp>> 0/100/
/Skill>>???/
/Mana pool>>100/100/
Wait, is this like some game system interface or something? And what the hell does it mean that I'm too weak to be given a frikin' level!
I'm really as pathetic as people say I am. But I have an experience point tab, which means that I can level up right? Chuck decided to navigate the system, which didn't prove difficult because he knew a lot of things about gaming.
All he had to do was focus on where he wanted to go, or he could manually use his finger tips as a cursor, even though the system screen itself was not a solid structure.
Right on the top right corner of the system interface, he was a question mark icon. Hoping to find something that'll help him grow stronger, he opened it and found another intriguing piece of information.
/Daily quest updated: Reduce your HP by 50 percent.
Reward: 30 exp/
/Weekly quest: Reduce your HP by 80 percent.
Reward: 50 exp/
"What the heck is this? Reducing my HP by 80 percent will certainly put me on the brink of death. Does this stupid system want me to die or what?" Chuck complained.
"But if I'm correct, maxing out my exp will take me to level one or something. Maybe I will finally be able to have proper control of my mana by then."
"Well in that case there's only one certified way for me to reduce my HP."
At that moment, the image of a certain boy with an arrogant demeanor entered his mind.
Bobby.