Marcus POV
Two months before Daphne's Rank up.
Marcus was currently catching his breath while lying on the ground of his training grounds.
"That was a bad move, Marcus. I get that infusing a magic circle in a blade while forging is a genius idea, but testing it mid-combat, is a bad idea. If you want to test things, do so in private, if you want to gamble, do so in a casino."
"I'm seven, why would I be in a casino?"
"Hm? That's how old I was when I first went to one. Although it was an illegal one, still."
Andrew, as always, was training him to firmly construct his battle style.
"Versatility's greatest weakness is your mind. It doesn't matter if you can do a hundred things if you can't properly know when to use them. Why add one more thing to your arsenal when you haven't figured out how the other hundred fit together? Don't stress yourself, like you said, you are seven, you have the time."
"I guess you are right."
According to Andrew, the best way to train versatility was sparring. While fighting, one would have their mind in constant stress.
That led to forgetting certain things, skipping steps, or committing miscalculations.
Those were the greatest errors a versatile fighter could have. Forgetting one of the weapons in your arsenal, skipping a step in the process of using one of the weapons in the arsenal or even miscalculating which weapon was the most usefull for the situation.
So, as they kept fighting, Marcus was forced to constantly keep his mind sharp.
At the start he had forgotten many times, skipped many steps, and miscalculated more times than the times he calculated correctly.
However, he evolved.
Soon, his memory became more sophisticated than others, he could almost call it photographic memory, but it was not at that level yet, it was pretty close, though.
The process that he once had to concentrate deeply to complete each step became instinct.
And the speed at which his mind made decisions improved greatly.
"Well, with practice you can reach that level easily, from what I can see. Well, I was contacted by your grandfather yesterday."
Marcus perked up, curiousity clear in his expression.
"He wanted to ask me if you were ready to rank up from G- to G. I said yes. What do you say, kid? Are you ready?"
Marcus stayed silent for a moment.
According to his age. The most talented members of the cast should be ranking up around this time?
If he remembered correctly, the original Marcus should also have ranked up around this time.
And he was confident that he was growing much faster than Canon Marcus had been.
He stood up and faced Andrew, his face revealing a determined expression.
"I'm ready."
Andrew smiled, his face revealing a sense of pride for his student.
"Then let's do it right now. Since your stats are already at a suitable level, all we need to do is use mana to stimulate your body into evolution, the System will do the rest."
That was right, he was ready, he just needed to go through the simplest method to rank up.
[
Name: Marcus Blade
Age: 7
Rank: G-
Talent: S+
Profession: Cosmic Forger (SS)
Strength: F-
Speed: F-
Stamina: F
Vitality: E
Magic: E-
Willpower: C-
Charisma: A+ (This stat is completely unrelated to mana or combat, this stat cannot be evolved)
Skills:
→[Blade's Sword Art (F)] (10% proficiency)
→[Forger's Advanced Crafting Arts (F)] (19% profiency)
→[Magic Arts (G)] (76% profiency)
->[Aura Control (F)](57% profiency)
Profession Skills:
→[Cosmic Forge's Flame (A)] (45% proficiency)
→[Cosmic Forge (SS)](34% proficiency)
]
All of his stats were now above F-, the minimum requirement to go through this process, two of his skills had ranked up from G to F, those being:
[Blade's Basic Sword Art] -> [Blade's Sword Art]
[Forger's Crafting Arts] -> [Forger's Advanced Crafting Arts]
And he had also learned the skill [Aura Control] after training to control his aura for so long.
Marcus prepared himself to rank up.
He sat on the ground and started to make both his mana and aura flow, trying to stimulate his body into evolving, constantly pushing into the walls of his limits.
Blue ripples suddenly appeared around him, converging into himself. Along with them, similar red ripples appeared, these ones flowing away from him.
It started slow, until it started accelerating. Soon, there were so many ripples around him that it was hard for one to actually see him among them.
It didn't take long until the voice of the System broke his state of focus.
[Detected signs of unusual levels of power in host Nº##########]
[Analyzing signs...]
[Evolution Attempt Recognized]
[Evaluating host to determine whether they fit evolution criteria...]
[1%]
[2%]
[4%]
[8%]
[16%]
[32%]
[64%]
[68%]
[84%]
[92%]
[96%]
[98%]
[99%]
[Evaluation Complete]
[Host Nº##########, Name: Marcus Blade, do you wish to rank up (G- -> G)?]
[Yes] [No] [59s]
Seeing the two options and the 1-minute timer, Marcus did not hesitate.
[57s]
And he clicked [Yes].
[Starting Evolution...]
[Type: Minor Rank]
[Previous Rank: G-]
[Expected Rank: G]
[Chance of Success: 99.999%]
The ripples around clashed against each other, red against blue, forming deep purple ripples that either dispersed away from him or converged into him, until they slowly dissipated as if they never existed.
The air burned with a certain intensity. The heat reminded Marcus of his family's forge during working hours. It was both familiar and unfamiliar, it reminded not only of the familiar flames of a forge but also gave him the sensation that he was witnessing something bigger than himself.
[You have Ranked up by a minor rank, reaching G!]
[Congratulations!]
He felt the temperature around him drop slowly. The sudden change from hot to cold made him shiver for a bit.
He breathed in and out, slowly.
Raising his arm, he clenched his fist.
He was much stronger than before, that much was obvious.
Marcus decided to check his status window.
[
Name: Marcus Blade
Age: 7
Rank: G
Talent: S+
Profession: Cosmic Forger (SS)
Strength: F
Speed: F
Stamina: F+
Vitality: E
Magic: E+
Willpower: C
Charisma: A+ (This stat is completely unrelated to mana or combat, this stat cannot be evolved)
Skills:
→[Blade's Sword Art (F)] (10% proficiency)
→[Forger's Advanced Crafting Arts (F)] (19% proficiency)
→[Magic Arts (G)] (76% proficiency)
->[Aura Control (F)] (57% proficiency)
Profession Skills:
→[Cosmic Forge's Flame (A)] (45% proficiency)
→[Cosmic Forge (SS)](34% proficiency)
]
The changes in stats were not that much. Both his Strength and Speed went from a F- to a F, altough it was a simple jump in a minor rank, considering that Marcus' overall rank had also increased, his body felt much stronger, almost as if he had increased those stats all the way to F+.
His Stamina also increased by a minor rank, going from F to F+. There wasn't that much change that he could feel at the moment, only when he started physical training would he be able to accurately analyze his progress on that front.
His Vitality did not increase, however, staying still at E Rank, but he was already expecting that, after all, it was E rank! It was two major ranks above his overall Rank.
As for his Magic stat, it had jumped from E- straight to E+, and that one was the actual surprise.
After all, like it was common knowledge, the bigger the difference between a higher-ranked stat and a lower overall rank, the lower was the possibility that said stat ranked up, and yet, the Magic Stat, which was already at E-, was the one stat that had grown the most.
And the change was Noticeable.
Now, an increase in Magic Stat did not translate into a bigger mana pool or better control. But it could be noticed in better organized and enhanced mana channels that allowed one to increase output as well as an increase in mana quality.
And such a jump in rank, almost a major rank, along with an overall rank up, made such progress so easy to feel that it was almost hard to focus on any of the other changes.
"Wow, seriously, the way that your mana is now flowing, did your E- Ranked Magic Stat somehow rank up?"
"Yes, to E+."
"I see, E+. E What?!"
Andrew's eyes widened in shock. For a moment his mouth switched between open and closed, as if he was trying to say something, but just didn't know what to say.
Eventually, he seemed to calm down and accept the fact that Marcus had ranked one of his highest stats in overall Rank up.
"I suppose this should be expected from someone with an SS-ranked profession and S+ Ranked Talent. Maybe I should be surprised that nothing else happened!"
"Have you ever met other people ranked that high in their profession and talent?"
"Huh? Yes, kinda. I met someone with an SS Talent once, a real monster, but I never met someone with a profession ranked higher than SS, the closest being an SS- ranked one. Heck, maybe one day I will let you meet them."
"Sounds like fun."
"I guess it depends on what you call 'fun', I guess." He then looked at his watch. "We should probably let your parents and your grandfather know of your rank up?"
"Yeah, we should."
"Yes, to E+."
"I see, E+. E What?!"
Andrew's eyes widened in shock. For a moment his mouth switched between open and closed, as if he was trying to say something, but just didn't know what to say.
Eventually, he seemed to calm down and accept the fact that Marcus had ranked one of his highest stats in overall Rank up.
"I suppose this should be expected from someone with an SS-ranked profession and S+ Ranked Talent. Maybe I should be surprised that nothing else happened!"
"Have you ever met other people ranked that high in their profession and talent?"
"Huh? Yes, kinda. I met someone with an SS Talent once, a real monster, but I never met someone with a profession ranked higher than SS, the closest being an SS- ranked one. Heck, maybe one day I will let you meet them."
"Sounds like fun."
"I guess it depends on what you call 'fun', I guess." He then looked at his watch. "We should probably let your parents and your grandfather know of your rank up?"
"Yeah, we should."
****
Author's Note: Another Chapter! Hope you enjoy it.
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